HONG KONG (AP) — Stock markets across Asia displayed varied performance Monday following fresh record highs on Wall Street, while crude oil prices soared over 4% after President Donald Trump dismissed Iran’s latest response to U.S. peace negotiations.
Futures markets in the United States showed slight declines.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 0.4% to close at 62,486.84, despite briefly touching a new record above 63,300 during trading hours. SoftBank Group, the technology investment giant and major Japanese stock, declined more than 5%.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi index surged 4.1% to 7,804.71, also achieving an all-time intraday peak driven by technology companies such as Samsung Electronics and memory chip manufacturer SK Hynix.
Despite the ongoing Iranian conflict, tech-focused equities and rising enthusiasm for artificial intelligence have bolstered Japanese and South Korean markets, with the Nikkei 225 and Kospi climbing over 10% and 30% respectively during the past month.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 0.3% to 26,319.93, while Shanghai’s Composite index advanced 0.9% to 4,219.13. The Shanghai gains followed Monday’s official data revealing China’s factory gate prices increased 2.8% in April compared to the previous year — the strongest rise since 2022 — alongside weekend export figures that exceeded expectations.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.6%, Taiwan’s Taiex climbed 0.9%, and India’s Sensex fell 1.3%.
Crude oil values spiked early Monday amid Iranian conflict concerns after Trump posted on social media that Iran’s Sunday response to America’s most recent proposal was “TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!”
Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose 4.2% to $105.57 per barrel — a significant increase from approximately $70 per barrel before hostilities began in late February. U.S. benchmark crude climbed 4.7% to $99.89 per barrel.
Given that the Strait of Hormuz — a vital passage for worldwide oil and gas shipments — remains largely blocked, and with America’s ongoing naval blockade of Iranian ports, market experts anticipate elevated oil prices will persist.
The Iranian situation is expected to feature prominently when Trump conducts talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week. Beijing maintains significant economic ties with Iran, and Washington has urged China to use its leverage in helping reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
“There remains a glimmer of hope that talks between Trump and Chinese President Xi later this week could yield positive results on Iran,” ING commodities analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a note on Monday.
“The hope is that China can use its influence over Iran to push it closer towards a peace deal,” they said. “Clearly, this is easier said than done.” The oil market continues to be “heavily headline-driven,” the analysts noted.
Friday saw Wall Street achieve new milestones, with the S&P 500 benchmark gaining 0.8% to 7,398.93 for another all-time high, powered by investor confidence following stronger-than-anticipated employment data that exceeded analyst projections despite Iranian conflict disruptions.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up less than 0.1% to 49,609.16, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite jumped 1.7% to its own record of 26,247.08.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar strengthened to 157.14 Japanese yen from 156.61 yen. The euro traded at $1.1756, declining from $1.1780.
