SEOUL/TOKYO/HONG KONG/SHANGHAI (dpa-AFX) – New hope for a peace agreement in the Iran war supported the Asia-Pacific stock markets on Monday. This was particularly noticeable in Japan, where the Nikkei 225 set another record after a few days’ break. The Japanese leading index rose by 2.9 percent to 65,158.19 points and also benefited from further rising technology stocks, which, according to Commerzbank, remain an important driver with AI fantasy. In just over a year, the Nikkei has more than doubled.
There was a boost at the beginning of the week that, according to President Donald Trump, the USA was about to reach a framework agreement with Tehran in its efforts to end the Iran war. It was “largely” negotiated, the US President wrote on the Truth Social platform over the weekend. Trump spoke of orderly and constructive negotiations, but initially dampened hopes of a very quick breakthrough.
Associated with Trump’s statements are falling oil prices and the hope that the Strait of Hormuz, which is of great importance for global oil and gas trade, will soon be reopened. The price for a barrel of Brent oil for delivery in July fell by almost six percent below the $100 mark in Asian trading. This is the lowest level in a good two weeks.
Markets outside Japan were also friendly, but less strong. On the Chinese mainland stock exchanges, the CSI 300 index (CSI 300) with the 300 most important stocks on China’s mainland stock exchanges was recently quoted 1.3 percent higher at 4,906 points. There was no trading in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region due to the holiday – just like later on the US stock exchanges.
Australia’s S&P ASX 200 closed 0.4 percent higher at 8,692 points on Monday./tih/men