Oil prices slip, Asian shares mostly gain as US-Iran talks still in doubt
Oil prices slipped and Asian shares were mostly higher Tuesday, with the future of US-Iran talks aimed at ending the war in doubt.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil dipped 1% to $94.44. US benchmark crude oil lost 1.2% to $86.19 per barrel.
US President Donald Trump said Vice President JD Vance would be going to Pakistan’s capital Islamabad for talks. But after the US Navy’s seizure of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, the Iranian side made no commitment to more negotiations.
In Asian share trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 climbed 0.9% to 59,357.74 on strong gains for tech-related companies like Tokyo Electron, which rose 3.2%. Tech and energy giant SoftBank Group Corp. gained 8.2%.
South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.6% to 6,381.49, and Taiwan’s Taiex advanced 1.8%.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 0.4% to 26,465.04 and the Shanghai Composite index lost 0.1% to 4,077.27.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.1% to 8,943.70.
Oil prices had climbed on Monday following the latest rise in tensions between the United States and Iran, but the moves were more modest than they were earlier in the war. US stocks, meanwhile, gave back a bit of their record-breaking rally.
