Asian markets rebound as Mideast tensions ease

Asian markets rebounded in early trading Thursday following losses the day before after Iran launched a missile attack on U.S. bases in Iraq.

Tensions decreased significantly Wednesday amid signs of de-escalation, as President Donald Trump said Iran “appears to be standing down” and announced fresh sanctions rather than immediate military action. Trump said the United States is “ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.”

U.S. stocks recovered after shaky pre-market trading, with the Nasdaq closing at a new record and the S&P 500 hitting an intraday record.

Japan’s Nikkei

NIK, +2.18%

surged 2% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index

HSI, +1.16%

rose 1%. The Shanghai Composite

SHCOMP, +0.57%

advanced 0.5% and the Shenzhen Composite

399106, +1.23%

ticked up 1%. South Korea’s Kospi

180721, +1.10%

rose 1% and benchmark indexes in Taiwan

Y9999, +1.20%

, Singapore

STI, +0.17%

and Indonesia

JAKIDX, +0.23%

gained. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200

XJO, +0.68%

advanced 0.6%.

Among individual stocks, Screen Holdings

7735, +6.10%

surged in Tokyo trading, while Yahoo Japan parent Z Holdings

4689, +5.08%

, SoftBank

9984, +4.45%

and Honda

7267, +1.29%

also rose. In Hong Kong, Apple component makers Sunny Optical

2382, +4.92%

and AAC

2018, +2.99%

gained, while PetroChina

857, -1.69%

fell as oil prices receded Wednesday. Samsung

005930, +2.29%

jumped in South Korea, while in Australia, Beach Energy

BPT, -2.23%

fell and Rio Tinto

RIO, +1.31%

advanced.

On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 index

SPX, +0.49%

rose 0.5% to 3,253.05. The Dow Jones Industrial Average

DJIA, +0.56%

advanced 0.6% to 28,745.09. The Nasdaq composite

COMP, +0.67%

rose 0.7% to a record 9,129.24.

Oil prices rebounded Thursday after first surging on news of the Iranian attack and then falling back once tensions appeared to be easing.

Benchmark U.S. crude

CLG20, +0.84%

gained 48 cents to $60.09 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Wednesday, the contract fell $3.09 to settle at $59.61. It traded as high as $65.65 following the missile attack.

Brent crude

BRNH20, +0.73%

, used to price international oils, advanced 44 cents to $65.88 per barrel in London. It fell $2.83 the previous session to $65.44.

Gold

GCG20, -0.03%

had a similar whipsaw day. It climbed as high as $1,604.20 per ounce before settling at $1,560.10.

In currency trading, the dollar

USDJPY, +0.08%

gained to 109.20 yen from Wednesday’s 109.08 yen.

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