The latest Market Talks covering Basic Materials. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.
0817 GMT - Hong Kong shares closed in the red Monday, with the benchmark Hang Seng Index ending 3.5% lower at 24382.47. Asia's heavy reliance on Middle Eastern energy has left markets reeling from the fallout of the war in Iran, says WRISE Private Singapore's Jude Lin in an email. The deliberate targeting of critical energy infrastructure across the Gulf has also spooked investors and driven the market into a definitive risk-off mode, he adds. Among the Hang Seng Index's constituents, Laopu Gold led the losses, closing 8.6% lower ahead of its earnings release. China Hongqiao ended 8.1% lower, while AIA fell 7.8%. (megan.cheah@wsj.com)
0047 GMT - Copper prices could have much further to fall if an energy shock from the Middle East conflict leads to a recession, says Jefferies analyst Christopher LaFemina. The LME three-month copper is already down by 11% so far this month. "The bottom line is that a recovery in the copper price depends on de-escalation and relative peace," says LaFemina. Copper-mining stocks have consequently underperformed since the conflict began, he says. For investors seeking to bet on an eventual recovery, Jefferies reckons Glencore might be the safest option given it has "the added protection of coal and marketing earnings," LaFemina says. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)
2239 GMT - The impact of the conflict in Iran and disruption to energy supply is "primarily a timing and margin event, rather than a structural reset" for Australian industrial stocks, says Morgan Stanley. Earnings could come under pressure in the near term. Still, analyst Joseph Michael believes medium-term growth drivers are largely intact and investors will increasingly look through disruption in FY 2026. Its top picks are Orica, James Hardie, Qantas and Reece, assuming any disruption is short-lived. Prolonged disruption would like see most stocks trade lower. In that scenario, investors should rotate toward defensive stocks and companies with pricing power. "Qantas would drop in our order of preference in this scenario given higher fuel exposure and demand risk," MS says. (david.winning@wsj.com; @dwinningWSJ)
2222 GMT - Gold should again find support from the Middle East conflict after President Trump threatened to attack Iran's power plants unless the Strait of Hormuz is quickly reopened, MKS Pamp's Nicky Shiels says. "The dominant headline into this week is a rapidly escalating U.S.-Iran confrontation," says Shiels. "Geopolitics once again overrides the macro calendar in terms of market sensitivity," she says. Gold futures last week posted their steepest one-week decline since 2011. Shiels reckons a key risk to gold's outlook is that an energy shock from the conflict gets read as demand destruction rather than inflationary. Spot gold is up 0.4% at $4,509.01/oz. (rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com; @RhiannonHoyle)
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 23, 2026 04:20 ET (08:20 GMT)
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