BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mostly higher Monday in Asia as oil prices slipped more than 4% after the U.S. and Iran refrained from fighting while discussing a possible resumption of negotiations on an interim ceasefire deal.
Shares in Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT soared about 470% as they began trading on Shanghai’s technology board. The company jumped to become China’s most valuable listed company with an estimated market capitalization of 3.3 trillion yuan (nearly $490 billion).
The Pentagon did not respond to questions about the pause in attacks on Iranian coastal areas and infrastructure after nearly two weeks of escalating fighting sparked by Iran’s firing at ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz.
But markets reacted with relief. U.S. futures surged early Monday and the price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 4.6% to $87.46.
U.S. benchmark crude dropped 5.1% to $84.79 per barrel.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.2% to 64,771.02, while the Kospi in South Korea was up 0.3% to 6,708.87.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.8% to 25,164.81, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.4% to 3,827,96.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.3% to 8,883.00.
Taiwan’s Taiex slipped 0.3% and the Sensex in India added 0.7%.
On Friday, the S&P 500 barely budged, picking up less than 0.1% to 7,411.98. The index notched its second consecutive losing week, which hadn’t happened since March.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5% to 51,947.25, while the Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.6%, to 24,975.82. Sharp losses for several big tech stocks pulled it lower.
Micron Technology fell 7% and Broadcom fell 2.7%. Both companies have large market values and were big reasons for the technology-heavy Nasdaq’s decline.
Recent surges in energy prices and fresh tariffs announced last week by the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump could result in hotter inflation, which has been squeezing consumers and looming over the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy.
The Fed meets this week, though rising inflation has dashed hopes for an interest rate cut anytime soon. Wall Street has been leaning toward a potential rate hike to tamp down higher prices.
Higher energy costs are taking up a bigger share of household budgets, which have shifted toward more basic needs, like gasoline. Nationally, a gallon of gasoline costs $4.11 per gallon, according to AAA. That’s still lower than this spring as the conflict in Iran expanded, but almost a dollar higher than last year at this time.
