(April 7): Crude oil advanced in volatile trading and equities lost momentum on Tuesday as investors remained wary ahead of US President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to make a peace deal, with tentative ceasefire signals tempered by the risk of further escalation.
Brent rose 1.2% to trade above US$111 ($142.72) a barrel after swinging between gains and losses in the run-up to Trump’s Tuesday 8pm Eastern Time deadline.
Global equities — after gaining on Monday on ceasefire hopes — fluctuated as uncertainty about the war kept investors on the sidelines. US stock-index futures fell 0.4%. Asian shares trimmed earlier advances to rise 0.5%, led by technology stocks, which are viewed as less exposed to the six-week conflict in the Middle East. Contracts indicated a tepid open for European stocks.
Traders are cautious ahead of Trump’s deadline as uncertainty over escalation risks, oil supply disruptions and policy responses limits conviction despite tentative ceasefire signals. Attention remains firmly on the Strait of Hormuz — a key artery for Middle East oil flows — with the US president insisting any deal must ensure uninterrupted transit through the waterway.
A JPMorgan Chase & Co gauge of one-month volatility in Group-of-10 currencies rose 17 basis points to 7.98% on Monday, though it remained within a recent range, signalling mild rather than severe concerns about the coming deadline.
See also: Stocks rise on possible Iran ceasefire; oil pares gains
“Market participants will remain highly sensitive to further developments out of the Middle East, which continue to act as the primary driver of sentiment,” said Nick Twidale, the chief market analyst of AT Global Markets, in a note. “All eyes will be on news wires as the day progresses, but the skew seems to be to the downside at the moment.”
Trump said talks with Iran are “going well” ahead of the deadline to agree to a deal, even as he insisted that freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz must be part of any accord. If Iran doesn’t agree to the US’ terms, the military may destroy “every bridge in Iran by 12 o’clock tomorrow night” and put every power plant “out of business”, Trump warned on Monday.
In other corners of the market, gold swung between gains and losses to trade around US$4,650 an ounce. Treasury 10-year yields gained one basis point to 4.34%. Bitcoin fell more than 1.5% to trade around US$68,700.
See also: Asia shares gain as volatile week draws to a close
“I am quite sure the markets are not fully pricing the worst-case scenario,” Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told Bloomberg Television’s Avril Hong. Singapore’s top diplomat warned the economic fallout from the war in Iran could worsen.
The US president’s self-imposed deadline marks the latest pivotal moment in the war, which has killed thousands of people and triggered the largest-ever disruption to the global oil market. The president has struggled to find an off-ramp to the conflict — increasingly unpopular with Americans who are seeing average gasoline prices above US$4 a gallon.
Iran reportedly passed a rejection of a ceasefire proposal to mediator Pakistan. It demanded a permanent end to the war, lifting of sanctions, and reconstruction efforts, in addition to protocol for safe passage through Hormuz, according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency.
“This is a market being driven by headlines,” said Josh Gilbert, a market analyst at eToro Ltd. “We saw it on Monday, when reports of a potential 45-day ceasefire framework sent equities higher and oil lower, only for Trump’s rhetoric about destroying Iranian infrastructure to pull the mood back in the opposite direction.”
Asian and US equities had risen on Monday amid hopes for a ceasefire. Axios reported that US allies are pressing for a last-minute deal with Iran, citing sources with knowledge of the talks.
Even as traders kept a close eye on geopolitical developments, they awaited this week’s key inflation readings. Data published on Monday showed the US service economy expanded in March at a slower pace as employment shrank by the most since 2023 and input prices accelerated.
While investors have been fixated on geopolitical risks, the macro data continues to point to a resilient economy and a still-constructive earnings outlook, according to Mark Hackett at Nationwide.
To stay ahead of Singapore and the region’s corporate and economic trends, click here for Latest Section
“Geopolitical risks themselves have not been resolved, but volatility indices in Japan, the US and Europe have peaked, suggesting that markets may have largely priced in these risks,” said Hideyuki Ishiguro, the chief strategist of Nomura Asset Management.
Corporate highlights:
- Samsung Electronics Co earned a far stronger-than-expected eight-fold leap in quarterly profit, underscoring robust demand for artificial intelligence memory chips.
- A Goldman Sachs Group Inc private credit fund said investors sought to pull just under 5% of their cash in the first quarter, narrowly escaping a broader exodus that has forced peers to cap withdrawals.
- Neurocrine Biosciences Inc agreed to buy Soleno Therapeutics Inc for US$2.9 billion to gain access to a drug for a rare disorder that causes patients to have insatiable appetites.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures were down 0.4% as of 2.01pm Tokyo time on Tuesday
- Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) fell 0.1%
- Japan’s Topix rose 0.1%
- Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.5%
- The Shanghai Composite was little changed
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.1%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
- The euro was little changed at US$1.1537
- The Japanese yen was little changed at 159.75 per dollar
- The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.8764 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin fell 1.5% to US$68,815.29
- Ether fell 1.7% to US$2,112.64
Bonds
- The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.35%
- Japan’s 10-year yield declined 2.5 basis points to 2.400%
- Australia’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 4.98%
Commodities
- West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.6% to US$115.35 a barrel
- Spot gold rose 0.2% to US$4,660.70 an ounce
Uploaded by Tham Yek Lee
