Asia-Pacific markets pare gains as oil rebounds on Iran war-linked uncertainty

Asia-Pacific markets pared gains Tuesday as oil prices rebounded, underscoring lingering uncertainty over the Middle East conflict.

Brent crude futures for May rose over 3.5% to $103.7 per barrel while the West Texas Intermediate futures jumped 4% to $91.72 per barrel. The uptick follows a sharp sell-off on Monday, when Brent crude fell nearly 11% to around $99 per barrel after topping $112 on Friday.

“Despite the exuberance on Wall Street … oil is well off its lows after Tehran denied conducting any weekend negotiations with Washington,” said José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers, who added that the risk of an extended war remains at the top of the mind for the market.

South Korea’s Kospi had surged over 3% before paring gains to 1.5%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was last up 1.7%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.1%, while the Topix added 1.87% after Japan’s headline inflation rate eased for a fourth straight month in February as the economy cooled on stabilizing food prices and fuel subsidies.

The consumer price index fell to 1.3% last month, according to data released by Japan’s Statistics Bureau Tuesday, marking the lowest since March 2022 and below the central bank’s 2% target, down from 1.5% in January.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose by 0.32%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index advanced 1.62%, while the CSI 300 rose 0.52%.

The gains came after U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he had instructed the U.S. military to delay planned strikes on Iran’s power plants and energy facilities for five days, after discussions with Iranian officials.

However, Iranian state media, citing an unnamed senior security official in a Telegram post, disputed Trump’s account, denying that any talks had taken place between Washington and Tehran.

“I AM PLEASE TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST,” Trump said Monday in a Truth Social post.

Overnight in the U.S., stocks rallied. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 631 points, or 1.38%, to close at 46,208.47. The S&P 500 rose 1.15% and ended at 6,581.00, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.38% and settled at 21,946.76.

Before Trump’s comments, posted on Truth Social early Monday, futures pointed to more losses for equity markets under siege from skyrocketing oil prices and uncertainty about the duration of the Iran conflict. But after Trump’s comments, Dow futures briefly surged more than 1,000 points.

Spot gold fell about 1.5% to $4,340.18, while spot silver prices fell nearly 3%.

—CNBC’s Anniek Bao, Sean Conlon and John Melloy contributed to this report.