TOKYO: Stock markets in Japan and South Korea soared in early trade on Wednesday (Apr 1), after US President Donald Trump indicated that the war with Iran may be over in around two weeks.
Japan’s Nikkei index climbed more than 3 per cent, and South Korea’s Kospi was up nearly 5 per cent.
Ahead of the opening bell, Tokai Tokyo Securities said the Japanese market was expected to rise “as information suggesting a ceasefire has been provided from both the US and Iranian side”.
The rebound came as financial markets seized on tenuous signals for hope about a possible end to the war.
Wall Street stocks had already rocketed higher on Tuesday after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told the president of the European Council that Tehran had the “necessary will” to end the war, provided its enemies guaranteed it would not flare up again.
They appeared to shrug off subsequent remarks from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the more than month-long military campaign against Tehran was not over, vowing to crush Iran’s “terror regime”.
Trump said on Tuesday that US forces would end operations in Iran “very soon”, adding that he thought the military would leave “within maybe two weeks, maybe a couple of days longer”.
The worry on Wall Street has been that the war may last a long time and keep oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf out of global markets, which could create a brutal blast of inflation.
Following Tuesday’s possible signals of hope, the price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, eased 3.2 per cent to settle at US$103.97. Benchmark US crude erased a gain from the morning and fell 1.5 per cent to settle at US$101.38.
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