Asian stocks were mixed and oil prices climbed following back-and-forth fighting around the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend and continued tech-led volatility.
After exchanging blows in the Persian Gulf since Thursday, the U.S. and Iran have agreed to end fighting and resume peace talks as early as Tuesday, according to officials from the U.S. and other countries involved in the negotiations.
The latest strikes--the worst fighting since both sides signed a memorandum of understanding for peace talks on June 17--underscored the fragility of the ceasefire and reignited concerns about supply disruptions in the waterway through which one-fifth of the world's crude oil once flowed.
"The market is likely to re-evaluate its assumption of a quick recovery of oil supply from the Persian Gulf," ANZ Research analysts said in a note.
Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures were 1.1% higher at $69.97 a barrel and Brent crude futures increased 0.6% to $72.40 a barrel.
ANZ cautioned that even if the two sides reach a longer-term deal, physical oil flows will likely take time to recover, as they are still constrained by tanker backlogs, damaged infrastructure and production shut-ins.
Equity markets in Asia lacked direction as investors weighed geopolitical uncertainties and the global artificial-intelligence trade turned more volatile.
South Korea's Kospi fell 2.5%, dragged down by leading memory-chip makers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, which declined 6.5% and 4.8%, respectively. The country's stock market has been on a roller-coaster ride lately. The benchmark Kospi surged more than 5% Thursday on robust Micron results, only to slide as much as 9% on Friday, triggering the second trading halt in a week.
Tickmill Group analyst Patrick Munnelly noted that market positioning has become increasingly unstable after the AI-led rally. "Leveraged retail exposure, crowded semiconductor longs and fragile sentiment around memory demand have combined to create a market that is highly vulnerable to negative headlines," he wrote in a note.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was 1.0% lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2.2%.
The recent pullbacks notwithstanding, Goldman Sachs thinks North Asian markets could continue to lead in the second half of the year, given the strength of their thematic drivers centered on tech hardware and the strong earnings they are delivering.
Write to Sherry Qin at sherry.qin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 28, 2026 23:53 ET (03:53 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Comments