TOKYO: Asian shares mostly rose in cautious trading Tuesday, as oil prices continued to surge ahead of a deadline that US President Donald Trump set for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping traffic or risk its power plants and bridges being bombed.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained less than 0.1% to close at 53,429.56. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.7% to 8,728.80. South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.8% to 5,494.78. The Shanghai Composite edged up 0.3% to 3,890.16. Trading was closed in Hong Kong for a holiday.
On Wall Street, stock prices drifted higher, with the S&P 500 rising 0.4%, coming off its first winning week in the last six. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 165 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%.
In energy trading, benchmark US crude jumped USD2.41 to USD114.82 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added USD1.46 to USD111.23 a barrel. That remains well above its roughly USD70 price from before the war.
Oil prices have been seesawing amid uncertainty about what will happen in the war with Iran and how long it will slow the global flow of oil and natural gas. Iran on Monday rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and instead said it wants a permanent end to the war.
The Mizuho Daily by the research team in Singapore at Mizuho Bank noted Trump's latest actions mark “an escalation cycle that has now been extended several times since his first ultimatum in late March.”
“Given the differing perspectives, hopes of a complete resolution to the conflict remains elusive while countries continue to work on bilateral solutions,” it said.
As talks continued, Iranian and Omani officials also were working on a mechanism for administrating the strait through which a fifth of the world's oil is shipped in peacetime. Iran's grip on it has shaken the world economy.
All told, the S&P 500 rose 29.14 points to 6,611.83. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 165.21 to 46,669.88, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 117.16 to 21,996.34.
In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The 10-year Treasury yield was sitting at 4.33%. That's still well above its 3.97% level from before the war.
In currency trading, the US dollar edged up to 159.86 Japanese yen from 159.62 yen. The euro cost USD1.1541, down from USD1.1543.