Asia-Pacific markets were mostly higher on Monday as investors remained cautious on developments in the Middle East amid renewed tensions between Iran and the US.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday that a US guided-missile destroyer fired on an Iranian-flagged cargo ship and disabled it in the Gulf of Oman before marines boarded and seized the ship.
The seizure is an escalation of the blockade and comes after Iran fired on commercial ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz earlier on Sunday. The strait is located between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
Since last week, the US has been implementing a naval blockade of ships entering and leaving Iranian ports. Iran considers the ongoing blockade a violation of the cease-fire reached by the US and Iran and cites this as one of the reasons for canceling the expected talks in Islamabad on Monday.
Trump warned on Sunday that he would “tear down every power plant and every bridge in Iran” if Tehran did not agree to Washington’s terms for ending the conflict.
West Texas Intermediate futures added 6.20% to $89.05 a barrel as of 11:45 p.m. ET. Brent crude oil rose by 5.40% to $95.26 per barrel, SEEbiz reports.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.03%, while the small-cap Kosdaq advanced 0.71%. SK Hynix was among the top performers on the Kospi index, rising more than 3% on news that it has begun mass production of next-generation AI server memory designed for Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.03%, while the Topix gained 0.65%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was little changed.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 rose 0.54%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 0.89%.
China kept its benchmark interest rates unchanged for the 11th consecutive month as escalating tensions in the Middle East pushed up energy prices and weighed on the growth outlook.
The decision came after the world’s second-largest economy grew 5% in the first quarter, accelerating from 4.5% in the previous quarter, and was at the upper end of the full-year growth target range. Beijing lowered its growth target for 2026 to a range of 4.5% to 5%, the least ambitious target seen since the 1990s.
