TOKYO, April 7: Asian shares mostly rose in cautious trading Tuesday, as oil prices continued to surge ahead of a deadline that U.S. President Donald Trump set for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping traffic or risk its power plants and bridges being bombed.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained less than 0.1% to close at 53,429.56. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.7% to 8,728.80. South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.8% to 5,494.78. The Shanghai Composite edged up 0.3% to 3,890.16. Trading was closed in Hong Kong for a holiday.
On Wall Street, stock prices drifted higher, with the S&P 500 rising 0.4%, coming off its first winning week in the last six. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 165 points, or 0.4%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude jumped $2.41 to $114.82 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added $1.46 to $111.23 a barrel. That remains well above its roughly $70 price from before the war.
Oil prices have been seesawing amid uncertainty about what will happen in the war with Iran and how long it will slow the global flow of oil and natural gas. Iran on Monday rejected the latest ceasefire proposal and instead said it wants a permanent end to the war.
The Mizuho Daily by the research team in Singapore at Mizuho Bank noted Trump's latest actions mark "an escalation cycle that has now been extended several times since his first ultimatum in late March."
"Given the differing perspectives, hopes of a complete resolution to the conflict remains elusive while countries continue to work on bilateral solutions," it said. �"AP
