Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong.
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Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Friday following choppy trading on Wall Street overnight as Middle East wars and energy supply disruptions left investors on edge.
Iran on Thursday attacked the world’s largest gas plant in Qatar in retaliation for Israel’s attack on the South Pars gas field, damaging energy supplies for years to come. Qatar Energy CEO Saad Al Kaabi said the Iranian attack wiped out 17% of the country’s LNG export capacity over three to five years.
Retaliatory attacks on key oil and gas infrastructure across the Middle East have sent energy prices soaring.
us natural gas price It was last seen up 1.5% at $3.112 per million British thermal units. previous month Nymex RBOB gasoline Meanwhile, the price for April delivery rose about 1% to $3.13, the highest level in about four years.
Crude oil prices fall along with international indicators brent crude oil futures It fell 2% to $106.45 per barrel. US West Texas Intermediate futures fell 1.56% to $94.64.
Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s largest oil producers, expects prices to soar to more than $180 a barrel if supply disruptions continue into late April, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Saudi officials.
The market impact of the regional war also extended to metals, with gold and silver falling by around 5% and 10% respectively before offsetting losses.
“The recent massive gold spot price declines suggest panic selling,” Ed Yardeni, a veteran investor and president of Yardeni Research, said in a note Friday, predicting that the recent decline will bottom out soon.
In a sign of efforts to calm concerns, US President Donald Trump said he would not send ground troops and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would refrain from repeating attacks on Iranian energy facilities.
U.S. allies, including Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Japan, issued a joint statement saying they were “ready to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage” through the Strait of Hormuz.
australian S&P/ASX 200 The loss widened to 0.4%. hong kong Hang Seng Index Mainland China’s CSI300 index rose 0.41%, while it fell 0.61%.
The Hang Seng High-Tech Index fell 1.7%, with Xiaomi, the biggest driver, dropping as much as 6.8%. The stock was sold a day after the company launched its latest electric vehicle model and announced plans to invest more than $8.7 billion in the development of artificial intelligence over the next three years.
The People’s Bank of China on Monday kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged for the 10th consecutive month, keeping the five-year loan prime rate unchanged at 3.5% and the one-year interest rate at 3%.
South Korean blue-chip stock Kospi rose 0.64%, and small-cap stock Kosdaq rose 1.68%. Japanese markets were closed for the holiday.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.44% to 46,021.43 points. The S&P 500 Index fell 0.27% to close at 6,606.49 points, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.28% to 22,090.69 points.
Futures prices linked to the 30-stock index rose 111 points (0.2%). S&P 500 futures rose about 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2% as Wall Street fell overnight.
The Federal Reserve kept interest rates on hold earlier this week, with Chairman Jerome Power warning that the economic outlook remained uncertain as fighting continued in the Middle East.
