Asian Stocks Rise on Iran Deal Hopes, Oil Falls: Markets Wrap

Asian stocks advanced, tracking Wall Street gains, as US President Donald Trump raised hopes for an Iran deal even as a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz took effect.Author of the article:You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks advanced, tracking Wall Street gains, as US President Donald Trump raised hopes for an Iran deal even as a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz took effect.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Gauges in Japan, South Korea and Australia all climbed on optimism a deal will help ease oil prices and boost economic growth. The broader MSCI equity index for Asia-Pacific jumped 0.8% at the open. Contracts for US benchmarks were steady in early trading after the S&P 500 Index finished up 1% on Monday, extending a rally that has erased losses triggered by the Iran conflict. Helping sentiment, Brent crude fell 1.9% to $97.46 a barrel on Tuesday. Treasuries were steady in early Asian trading after advancing during the New York session, while the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was a touch weaker. Gold rebounded after two days of losses to trade around $4,755 an ounce, while Bitcoin rose to about $74,400.Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of Top Stories will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againInterested in more newsletters? Browse here.The moves followed Trump’s claim that Iran had reached out to his administration on potential peace talks, as the US began a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the war’s seventh week. With Tehran yet to confirm further discussions, investors remain wary of renewed volatility as the risk of escalation lingers.“The markets really want to give peace a chance, accentuating the positives and downplaying the negatives as tensions between the US and Iran simmer away,” said Kyle Rodda, analyst at Capital.com Inc. “Despite this, the risk for further volatility remains high, with headline risk continuing to drive the action.”Meanwhile, the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz took effect, marking Trump’s latest attempt to pressure Iran to loosen its grip on the waterway, a chokepoint through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows. Since the US action, at least two tankers appear to have abandoned planned transits after a military deadline to exit Iranian waters passed, underscoring the growing disruption to shipping.Since the US and Israel launched the war in late February, the Trump administration has taken repeated steps to contain prices, including coordinating the largest-ever release of global emergency reserves. It has also eased some sanctions on Iranian oil shipments at sea in an effort to curb surges. Still, crude is holding near $100 a barrel on both benchmarks.“I do think that we’re in a place where we’ve accomplished our objectives. We can start to wind this thing down,” US Vice President JD Vance said in response to a question about the higher energy prices Americans are seeing due to the war in Iran.Elsewhere, the Singapore dollar erased its gains after the country’s central bank tightened its monetary policy settings.In corporate news, first-quarter earnings season kicked off with a mixed start.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shares slipped 1.9% after better-than-expected equity trading revenue failed to offset a miss in fixed-income, currency and commodities trading, marking a rough start to earnings season. Goldman’s earnings miss offered traders one of the first looks at the financial health of corporate America. Wall Street’s biggest banks are expected to report a record $18 billion stock-trading haul during the first quarter as the war and the software scare fueled more activity from investors. JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc. are all due to report earnings Tuesday morning New York time.Meantime, the bond markets are turning their focus back to inflation due to the higher oil prices and the marked rise in March US consumer prices. Japan’s 10-year yield climbed to the highest level since 1997 earlier on Monday before paring the move. In the US, money markets pointed to less than a one-in-five chance of a rate cut by December.“Given the economic costs of higher oil prices and with the immediate turn of events highly uncertain, we think investors should avoid attempts to “trade” geopolitics,” wrote Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, CIO Americas and global head of equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.Corporate Highlights:Some of the main moves in markets: StocksCurrenciesCryptocurrenciesBondsCommoditiesThis story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.