Aerial view of downtown Seoul cityscape with vehicles and bridges on the highway crossing the Han River in Seoul, South Korea.
Mongkol Joo Won | Moment | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were set to rise on Monday as investors focused on overcoming a new diplomatic setback between the United States and Iran, even as oil prices continued to rise amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Sentiment held despite US President Donald Trump on Saturday backtracking on plans to send US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad, Pakistan, to negotiate with Iran.
“Too much time wasted traveling and too much work! On top of that, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership’,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Oil prices rose about 2% after plans for a second round of peace talks between the US and Iran collapsed again.
international benchmark brent Crude oil futures were up more than 2% at $107.49 a barrel by 7:35 p.m. ET. usa crude oil also rose 1.79% to $96.19.
Tensions remain high in the Strait of Hormuz after Iranian Revolutionary Guards reportedly boarded two cargo ships near the strategic sea lane.
Japanese Nikkei Stock Average Chicago futures traded at 59,980, Osaka futures at 60,140, and the index’s previous close was 59,716.18.
Similarly, Hong Kong Hang Seng Index The index’s last close was 25,978.07, while the futures price was 26,041.
In Australia, futures last traded at 8,798, while S&P/ASX 200 It closed at 8,786.5.
US futures fell slightly Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures It decreased by 0.2% or 130 points. S&P500 futures Although it decreased by 0.3%, Nasdaq 100 futures It fell 0.3%.
Last Friday in the United States, S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite Stores closed at record levels. The broader market index rose 0.8% to end at 7,165.08, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.63% to end at 24,836.60. Both indexes hit new intraday highs. however, Dow Jones Industrial Average It fell 79.61 points (0.16%) to end at 49,230.71.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.
