A man looking at a screen displaying world stock market information on the street in Tokyo, Japan.
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South Korea’s Kospi hit a new record on Wednesday as Asia-Pacific markets rose broadly, following Wall Street’s gains overnight, as investor sentiment rose on the back of lower oil prices and strong earnings results.
President Donald Trump said U.S. plans to divert ships from the Strait of Hormuz have been paused, suggesting diplomatic efforts to resolve the Middle East crisis are on track.
“While the lockdown remains in full force and effect, we have mutually agreed that Project Freedom will be suspended for a short period of time to determine whether an agreement can be finalized and signed,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
The U.S. military on Monday began guiding commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz under Project Freedom. “Two U.S. merchant ships and a U.S. destroyer have already safely passed through the strait, indicating there are no obstructions to the shipping lanes,” Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday.
West Texas Intermediate futures for June were down 1.51% at $100.73 a barrel as of 3:14 a.m. ET. Brent crude oil futures for July fell 1.48% to $108.23 per barrel.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 6.45% to close at a record high of 7,384.56 after the market resumed trading after the holiday, building on its annualized increase of more than 70% as of the previous close. Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics hit a record high, rising more than 14% to take its market capitalization above $1 trillion.
The Kosdaq Small Cap Index fell 0.29% to 1,210.17.
China’s CSI 300 index rose 1.45% to 4,877.09 as trading resumed after the Labor Day holiday. hong kong Hang Seng Index It was up 1% in the last hour of trading.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3% to close at 8,793.6. indian nifty 50 As of 3:50 a.m. ET, the stock was up 0.11%.
Japan’s stock markets were closed due to the holiday. The yen rose more than 1% against the dollar earlier in the day to 156.15 yen.
S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.6%. Futures, which track the Dow Jones Industrial Average, fell 30 points, or less than 0.1%.
During regular trading on Tuesday, the S&P 500 index rose 0.81% to a new all-time high, closing at an all-time high of 7,259.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.03% to a new all-time high, hitting a record closing price of 25,326.13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 356.35 points, or 0.73%, to end at 49,298.25.
—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.
