By Steffen Gosenheimer
DOW JONES–Stock markets in East Asia followed Wall Street’s firmer lead on Tuesday. The fact that there appears to be continued contact between the negotiating parties USA and Iran despite the break-off of the peace talks provides confidence. US President Vance, who departed from Islamabad, said that an agreement between Washington and Tehran was still possible. His comments came hours after the United States took action to prevent ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, following Iran’s move to close the key shipping passage in an attempt to turn it from an Iranian-controlled chokepoint into an American-controlled one.
The main reason for buying mood on the stock exchanges is that the situation with oil prices has calmed down somewhat despite the developments around the Strait of Hormuz. Brent oil costs around $98 in Asian trading on Tuesday. That’s about $5 less than early Monday.
The clear favorite of the day is the Seoul stock exchange. The technology-heavy Kospi rose by 3.5 percent and reached a record high. The drivers are the technology heavyweights Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix with profits of 3.9 and 7.9 percent. SK Hynix thus set a record high. Traders say new confidence in artificial intelligence demand is fueling growth. The fact that the shares of US storage competitor and development partner SanDisk will be included in the Nasdaq-100 will provide tailwind. The latter usually leads to inflows from passive funds.
In Tokyo, the Topix improved by 0.7 percent. Here too, many players rely on stocks from the technology sector. Advantest rose in price by over 8 percent, and the shares of technology investor Softbank even shot up by over 11 percent.
Things are a little quieter on the Chinese stock exchanges, with premiums of up to 0.6 percent. Mixed trading data is slowing things down here. While imports improved more than expected in March, the increase in exports was significantly lower than economists expected.
In Sydney, Australia, the market barometer gained 0.6 percent. The raw materials stock BHP is up 3.4 percent. The driver is a Bloomberg report that China is considering easing some restrictions on iron ore shipments from the mining company to the country. If confirmed, it would be a concession in a months-long trade dispute between the world’s largest mining company and the world’s largest iron ore consumer. The report also follows reports that BHP’s designated CEO Brandon Craig met Chinese officials in Beijing. The prices of BHP’s competitors Rio Tinto and Fortescue each gain 1.5 percent.
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INDEX last +/- % % YTD trading close
S&P/ASX 200 (Sydney) 8,978.00 +0.6 +3.0 08:00
Topix 500 (Tokyo) 2,922.73 +0.7 +9.9 08:00
Kospi (Seoul) 6,013.05 +3.5 +42.7 08:30
Hang-Seng (Hong Kong) 25,770.40 +0.4 +0.5 10:00
Shanghai Composite 4,010.45 +0.6 +1.0 09:00
Straits-Times (Singapore) 5,012.65 +0.6 +7.9 11:00
IDX Comp. (Indonesia) 7,672.04 +2.3 -11.3 10:00
KLCI (Malaysia) 1,692.19 +0.7 +0.8 10:00
FOREX last +/- % 00:00 Mon, 09:07 % YTD
EUR/USD 1.1766 +0.1 1.1757 1.1687 +0.2
EUR/JPY 187.20 -0.1 187.47 186.64 +1.7
EUR/GBP 0.8703 +0.0 0.8702 0.8713 -0.1
USD/JPY 159.08 -0.2 159.44 159.67 +1.6
USD/KRW 1,481.80 +0.2 1,479.08 1,488.30 +2.9
USD/CNY 6.8172 -0.2 6.8303 6.8327 -2.5
USD/CNH 6.8136 -0.1 6.8176 6.8316 -2.3
USD/HKD 7.8322 +0.0 7.8302 7.8313 +0.6
AUD/USD 0.7088 -0.1 0.7094 0.7048 +6.2
NZD/USD 0.5868 +0.0 0.5866 0.5831 +2.0
BTC/USD 74,448.94 +1.7 73,195.84 70,970.26 -15.1
CRUDE OIL last +/- % +/- abs. End of the previous day
WTI/Nymex 96.81 -2.3 -2.27 99.08
Brent/ICE 97.88 -1.5 -1.48 99.36
Metals last +/- % +/- abs. End of the previous day
Gold 4,772.97 +0.7 33.79 4,739.18
Silver 76.96 +1.8 1.39 75.58
Platinum 2,071.99 +0.1 1.42 2,070.56
Information provided without guarantee
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DJG/DJN/gos/ros
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 14, 2026 00:54 ET (04:54 GMT)
