HONG KONG: Oil prices held gains above $100 Friday, and most equity markets dropped after Iran&#39;s leader called for the blocking of the crucial Strait of Hormuz and the opening up of new fronts in the US-Israeli war on Iran. With the conflict heading towards its third week and showing no signs of ending, investors are growing increasingly worried about an extended crisis that could fan inflation and hammer the global economy. Tehran has targeted energy facilities this week across the Gulf, with ships hit near Iraq, fuel tanks attacked in Bahrain, and drones fired at oil fields in Saudi Arabia. And it warned on Thursday that it would &quot;set the region&#39;s oil and gas on fire&quot; if its own energy infrastructure and ports were targeted. In his first public comments since succeeding his father four days ago, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said the Strait of Hormuz -- through which a fifth of global oil and gas passes -- must remain effectively shut. &quot;The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must definitely be used,&quot; Khamenei said in a message read by an anchor on state television. Crude surges&nbsp;He also said, &quot;Studies have been conducted into opening other fronts where the enemy has little experience and would be highly vulnerable, and their activation will take place if the state of war persists&quot;. Crude surged more than nine percent Thursday, with Brent ending above $100 for the first time since 2022 when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.&nbsp; Brent is up around 40% since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on Feb. 28. And it held there in early Friday business, with analysts saying the record 400 million barrels released from International Energy Agency stockpiles had little impact. &lsquo;Largest supply disruption&rsquo;The IEA said Thursday that the war &quot;is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market&quot;. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has faced intense political pressure as the global economic fallout of the crisis has mounted, while markets have brushed off his assertions that the battle would be short-lived. The US president struck a defiant tone in a social media post Thursday, writing that the United States &quot;is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money&quot;. &quot;BUT, of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stopping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World.&quot; However, Pepperstone&#39;s Chris Weston said: &quot;With crude closing near its highs, markets are increasingly pricing in a longer duration for the conflict and the continued impact of a potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz. &quot;Donald Trump may continue to explore the idea of assisting vessels through the strait, and if that were to materialize, the market could see a strong relief rally. &quot;For now, however, the dominant features are higher energy prices and extremely elevated volatility markets.&quot; As concerns over the impact mount, equity traders are taking flight, with Asian economies most at risk owing to their reliance on energy imports. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul, Mumbai, Bangkok, Wellington, Manila, and Jakarta were all down. The dollar held its gains against major rivals owing to its safe-haven status, fears of inflation, and expectations that interest rates will remain elevated longer than expected. Matt Weller, head of market research at City Index, warned that markets could be in for more pain after years of generally strong equity markets, subdued energy prices, and broadly low interest rates &quot;Those trends have reversed, and the default assumption as long as the Strait of Hormuz remains functionally closed is that stocks will be under pressure, oil prices will trend higher, and interest rates will tick up in unison,&quot; he wrote. &quot;Unless or until we see meaningful progress toward a ceasefire in the Middle East, traders should shift their expectations that the coming weeks and months will look different than the past couple of years, weighing on risk appetite at an accelerating rate.&quot; <h2 style="line-height: 2;">Key figures at around 0700 GMT&nbsp;</h2>West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2% at $95.50 a barrel Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.1% at $100.56 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.2% at 53,819.61 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.9% at 25,477.39 Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.8% at 4,095.45 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1500 from $1.1514 on Thursday Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3321 from $1.3346 Dollar/yen: DOWN at 159.35 yen from 159.39 yen Euro/pound: UP at 86.29&nbsp;pence from 86.27 pence New York - Dow:&nbsp;DOWN 1.6% at 46,677.85 (close) London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.5% at 10,305.15 (close)

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Brent is up around 40% since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on Feb. 28; IEA said Thursday that the war ‘is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.’

Oil holds above $100, stocks fall as war enters day 14

WASHINGTON: Here are the latest economic events in the US-Israel war on Iran on Wednesday: Container ship hit near UAE&nbsp;The UK maritime agency said Thursday that a projectile struck a container ship near the United Arab Emirates. &quot;The container ship was struck by (an) unknown projectile causing a small fire onboard,&quot; the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said in a statement, adding the ship&#39;s crew had been reported as safe. Oil prices surge&nbsp;Oil prices surged, with Brent crude breaking back above $100 a barrel. Brent jumped more than nine percent to as high as $101.59 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was also up more nine percent to hit $95.97. Bahrain says fuel tanks attacked Bahrain said its fuel tanks were targeted in an Iranian attack.&quot;The blatant Iranian aggression targets fuel tanks at a facility in Muharraq Governorate,&quot; the country&#39;s Ministry of Interior said on X. Drones target Saudi oil field&nbsp;Saudi Arabia&#39;s defense ministry said on X that it had intercepted two drones heading towards the Shaybah oil field in the southeast of the country. It said it had intercepted seven drones heading to the oil field on Wednesday. US to release 172M barrels under IEA oil pact&nbsp;The US Department of Energy said it will release 172 million barrels of oil from its strategic petroleum reserve as part of an agreement among International Energy Agency&#39;s members to ease market turbulence. The IEA&#39;s 32 members earlier agreed to unlock 400 million barrels, its largest ever joint release. The US release will begin next week and be completed in approximately 120 days, the DoE said. Iranian hacking group targets US medical firm&nbsp;The Iran-linked hacking group Handala claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on US medical technology giant Stryker, saying it had extracted 50 terabytes of data in retaliation for the US war on Iran. War to &#39;destroy&#39; world economy&nbsp;Iran said it was ready for a long war of attrition that would &quot;destroy&quot; the world economy. The US and Israel &quot;must consider the possibility that they will be engaged in a long-term war of attrition that will destroy the entire American economy and the world economy,&quot; Ali Fadavi, adviser to the Revolutionary Guards&#39; commander-in-chief, told state television. The country&#39;s Tasnim news agency also published a list of potential targets for Iran, including the offices of tech giants such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia in Gulf countries and Israel. G7 rejects lifting Russian sanctions&nbsp;The Group of Seven nations rejected easing punitive measures against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine as the Middle East war wreaks havoc on global oil markets, France&#39;s President Emmanuel Macron said. &quot;This situation in no way justifies lifting the sanctions that exist against Russia,&quot; he said after a video call with other G7 leaders to discuss the war&#39;s economic fallout. Ships hit&nbsp;Iran&#39;s Revolutionary Guard said it had struck the Liberian-flagged container ship Express Rome and the Thai bulk carrier Mayuree Naree because they had entered the Strait of Hormuz &quot;after ignoring the warnings&quot;. Iraqi officials later said they had rescued 20 crew of an oil tanker that came under an unspecified attack in the country&#39;s territorial waters. Drones hit Oman port&nbsp;Drones struck fuel tanks at Oman&#39;s Salalah port on Wednesday, state media reported. Citi, Deloitte, PwC clear offices in Gulf&nbsp;Several major international businesses closed or evacuated offices in Gulf countries after Iran threatened US- and Israel-linked economic targets and centers in the Middle East. US finance group Citi and British consultancy Deloitte evacuated offices in Dubai&#39;s financial center, while PwC, another British consultancy, closed offices in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait. Fuel queues&nbsp;Tanker drivers in Pakistan said they were facing long waits at depots due to a shortage of fuel, as the government played down fears of another rise in prices over the war. ECB inflation vow&nbsp;European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde said that &quot;everything necessary&quot; would be done to &quot;keep inflation under control.&quot; Hormuz confusion&nbsp;The US energy secretary said in a video on X that the US Navy had escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz -- but the post was deleted within minutes. The White House subsequently stated that the US Navy had not escorted any tankers through the strategic Gulf passage. Iran&#39;s Revolutionary Guards said no US Navy vessel has &quot;dared&quot; to approach the strait.

Middle East

UK maritime agency said Thursday that a projectile struck a container ship near the United Arab Emirates; Oil prices surged, with Brent crude breaking back above $100 a barrel.

Articles tagged with "Brent Crude"

Oil holds above $100, stocks fall as war enters day 14

US-Israel war on Iran: Global economic fallout