Asian stocks showed mixed results on Monday, while oil prices jumped more than 4% after US President Donald Trump rejected Iran's response to the latest US proposal to end the war in Iran. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.4% to 62,486.84, despite briefly reaching another intraday record above 63,300. SoftBank Group, a major technology-focused investment holding company, dropped over 5%.
South Korea's Kospi gained 4.1% to 7,804.71, also hitting an all-time intraday high, driven by gains in tech-related stocks such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. Over the past month, the Nikkei 225 and Kospi have risen more than 10% and 30% respectively, supported by technology and artificial intelligence-related interest despite the Iran conflict.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.3% to 26,319.93, while the Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.9% to 4,219.13 following official data showing China's factory gate prices rose 2.8% in April year-on-year, the highest since 2022, and better-than-expected export figures. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.6%, Taiwan's Taiex rose 0.9%, and India's Sensex fell 1.3%.
Oil prices surged early Monday amid Iran war uncertainties after Trump described Iran's response as 'TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!' on social media. Brent crude gained 4.2% to $105.57 per barrel, while US benchmark crude rose 4.7% to $99.89. Analysts expect oil prices to remain elevated as the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed and the US continues its sea blockade of Iranian ports.
The Iran war is expected to be discussed when Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week. China has close economic ties with Iran, and the US has urged Beijing to use its influence to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz. ING analysts noted that there is hope for positive outcomes from the talks, but cautioned that the oil market remains heavily driven by headlines.
On Friday, Wall Street reached new records, with the S&P 500 adding 0.8% to 7,398.93, the Dow Jones edging up less than 0.1% to 49,609.16, and the Nasdaq climbing 1.7% to 26,247.08, all fuelled by optimism from a solid US jobs report despite the Iran war shocks.
