Stock brokers at the Prudential Brokerage office are observing the results of the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong for March 2020.
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Asia-Pacific markets rose on Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei stock average hitting a record high as investors appeared to overlook the uncertainty surrounding negotiations between the United States and Iran to end the Middle East conflict.
Tensions between the United States and Iran are escalating, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying on Tuesday that Iran is digging landmines in “large parts” of the Strait of Hormuz.
“They’re shelling commercial ships and digging mines in large parts of the international waters in Hormuz,” Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This will be his first appearance in Congress since the Iran war broke out on February 28th.
A White House official told CNBC that the Pentagon had destroyed numerous mines and more than 40 minelayers.
The Strait of Hormuz is a particularly important waterway for global energy markets, with around 20% of the world’s oil supplies passing through it before the war.
Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average ended Wednesday’s trading 2.50% higher at 68,402.13, while the TOPIX rose 1.83% to 3,996.20.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 index rose 0.49% to 4,938.81, while Hong Kong’s CSI 300 index rose 0.49% to 4,938.81. hansen The stock fell 1.62% in the last hour of trading.
australian S&P/ASX 200 8,785.70, up 0.70%. The country reported gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 2.5% year-on-year in the first three months of this year, falling short of the 2.6% expected by economists. Growth was weighed down by sluggish household spending and a decline in government consumption, as well as the impact of bad weather on the mining industry.
indian nifty 50 As of 3:40 a.m. ET, the BSE Sensex was down 0.83 percent, down 0.90 percent.
Korean markets were closed due to the holiday.
West Texas Intermediate futures for June were up 2.05% at $95.68 a barrel as of 3:39 a.m. ET. Brent crude oil futures for July rose 1.89% to $97.81 per barrel.
