Oil prices surge, Brent crosses $90.
Oil prices rose sharply in early Asian trade on Monday after the U.S. and Iran traded a series of escalating strikes over the weekend, sparking fears of a wider war and more oil supply disruptions in the Middle East.
Brent oil futures rose 2.2% to $90.25 a barrel by 01:23 ET (05:23 GMT), earlier hitting an over five-week high of $90.75 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate futures rose 2.4% to $83.54 a barrel.
Asian trading volumes were muted on account of a market holiday in Japan.
US, Iran launch more strikes as tensions flare
Crude prices jumped after the U.S. and Iran traded a slew of strikes over the weekend, with U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) stating it had launched more attacks against Iran on Sunday evening.
The new strikes came after Iranian attacks on a U.S. base in Jordan killed at least two U.S. troops and injured many others.
Asia stocks mixed as investors reassess AI bets.
Asian stock markets were mixed on Monday, with South Korea sliding amid growing concerns over stretched AI valuations, and Chinese shares climbing on optimism over domestic artificial intelligence developments.
Investors also monitored escalating tensions in the Middle East, which lifted oil prices and kept markets cautious over the outlook for global central bank policy.
U.S. stock futures were largely unchanged in Asian trading on Monday after Wall Street’s technology-led selloff on Friday.
South Korean shares led regional declines, with the KOSPI sliding nearly 4% after Friday’s global rout in AI-related stocks.
Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) and SK Hynix (KS:000660) shares fell nearly 4%, each.
Technology shares came under heavy pressure after Chinese startup Moonshot AI unveiled its Kimi K3 large language model, positioning it as a lower-cost rival to leading Western AI models.
Bitcoin down slightly to $64k.
Bitcoin fell slightly on Monday after moving little over the weekend as caution over worsening U.S.-Iran tensions and rising interest rates left markets largely averse towards cryptocurrencies.
The world’s largest crypto fell 0.9% to $64,139.0 by 02:10 ET (06:10 GMT), and remained in a trading range seen most of this year as sentiment towards crypto stayed weak. Bitcoin was also trading about 50% below an October record high and was nursing deep losses this year.
US-Iran tensions flare after weekend strikes
Heightened U.S.-Iran tensions remained a key weight on risk appetite, as the two countries traded more strikes over the weekend.
The U.S. was also seen broadening the scope of its attacks on Iran after the death of at least three service members over the weekend.
Tehran retaliated to U.S. by keeping up its attacks on surrounding Gulf countries and American bases in the region.
Oil prices rose sharply on the development, and as U.S. and Iranian aggression halted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Surging oil prices spurred more concerns over energy-driven inflation, which could in turn push the Federal Reserve into raising interest rates later this year.
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