Oil prices jump more than 6% after Trump says ceasefire with Iran is 'over'

BANGKOK: Oil prices surged more than 6% after US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the interim agreement with Iran is “over,” though he will allow talks to continue.

Trump made the comments following US strikes on Iran in reaction to attacks on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The price of Brent crude oil jumped 6.3% to$78.80 a barrel. US benchmark crude surged 6.4% to $75.00 a barrel.

“For me, I think it's over,” Trump responded when asked about the status of the ceasefire. “It's just a waste of time dealing with them,” he said on the sidelines of the two-day NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.

Crude prices had declined recently from spikes well above $100 a barrel to around the levels they were at before the war with Iran began in late February.

Iran and the United States agreed as part of their interim deal on ending the war to allow ships to pass through the strait without paying charges for 60 days. But Tehran has insisted it must control the vessels' routes and vowed to later charge fees for passage. That would upend decades of practice in the waterway. The ships attacked Tuesday all appeared to be using a route close to Oman's shore, rather than one ordered by Tehran.

A six-month lock up period for “cornerstone” investors after its $558 million trading debut in Hong Kong in early January expires this week. State-owned China National Radio reported late Tuesday that nearly 70% of Zhipu's cornerstone investors are committed to stay on, despite previous worries that the lock up period expiration could trigger a sell-off of shares. Zhipu's share price has risen more than 1,300% since its January trading debut in Hong Kong.

The Shanghai Composite index declined 0.5% to 3,970.88.

Elsewhere in Asia, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.2% to 8,785.10, while India's Sensex lost 0.7%.

On Tuesday, the roller-coaster ride for AI stocks whipped back down, dragging Wall Street lower.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4%, though the majority of stocks within the index rose. The drops for stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry dragged the Nasdaq composite 1.2% lower, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.2%.

Advanced Micro Devices sank 6.5% and Intel shed 9.7%. Micron Technology lost 4.7%.

SpaceX, which owns the xAI business, fell 6.8% in its first day of trading after it was included in the Nasdaq 100 index.

In other trading early Wednesday, the US dollar rose to 162.45 Japanese yen from 162.11 yen. The euro fell to $1.1407 from $1.1414.