HONG KONG: Wall Street rebounded in premarket trading on Tuesday and oil prices held above USD 100 as the US and Iran exchanged military strikes in the fifth week of the war.
Futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average each rose 0.9 per cent before the opening bell, while Nasdaq futures climbed 0.8 per cent.
US strikes hit a city Tuesday that's home to one of Iran's main nuclear sites, sending a massive fireball into the sky, and Tehran attacked a fully loaded Kuwaiti oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.
The attacks were a testament to the intensity of the war more than a month after the US and Israel launched their first strikes. The conflict has left more than 3,000 dead and caused major disruptions to the world's supply of oil and natural gas.
Brent crude futures inched up slightly to USD 107.56 a barrel on Tuesday, while benchmark US crude rose 83 cents to USD 103.71 per barrel.
Oil prices have surged in March, with Brent crude prices rising more than 40 per cent since the start of the Iran war.
Average US gas prices on Tuesday glided past USD 4 a gallon, the first time since 2022, as global energy prices soar. Also on Tuesday, official data showed that Europe's inflation rate in March jumped to 2.5 per cent, up from February's 1.9 per cent.
Maritime traffic disruptions at the Strait of Hormuz, where roughly a fifth of the world's oil normally passes through, remain the pain point for global energy supplies. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump has “options available” in response to Tehran's threats to control the strait, after Iran was said to have effectively created a “toll booth” there.
In equities trading early Tuesday, shares of the spice maker McCormick jumped 3 per cent, with many anticipating it will absorb the food division of Unilever. Unilever, based in London, is trying to streamline its personal care and cosmetics business. Unilever shares ticked up less than 1 per cent.
It wouldn't be the first major business deal this week. Sysco said it would acquire supplier Jetro Restaurant Depot in a USD 29 billion deal on Monday.
At midday in Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.9 per cent, France's CAC 40 was up 0.5 per cent, while Germany's DAX was trading 0.6 per cent higher.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was down 1.6 per cent to 51,063.72. Losses after the Iran war began on Feb. 28 have wiped out the gains it made from the beginning of the year.
South Korea's Kospi lost 4.3 per cent to 5,052.46. Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.2 per cent to 24,788.14, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.8 per cent to 3,891.86.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3 per cent, while Taiwan's Taiex was 2.5 per cent lower.
In other dealings early Tuesday, gold and silver prices were up. Gold's price was 0.6 per cent higher at USD 4,584.10 per ounce, and silver prices rose 3.7 per cent to USD 73.17 per ounce.
The US dollar was at 159.64 Japanese yen, down from 159.71 Japanese yen. The euro was trading at USD 1.1468, up from USD 1.1465.