Asia-Pacific markets surged on Friday amid investor optimism that the Middle East conflict could ease in the near term after United States President Donald Trump signalled that Iran and the United States may soon reach a peace agreement.
By 11:40am AEST (1:40am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.8%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 3.6%, and South Korea’s KOSPI 200 surged 7.5%.
According to reporting from Yonhap, South Korea’s bourse operator activated a buy-side sidecar for the benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) after the index spiked sharply on expectations of a potential resolution to the Middle East conflict.
A sidecar is a circuit breaker mechanism used by the Korea Exchange (KRX) to temporarily suspend program trading when the KOSPI or KOSDAQ index moves sharply in a single direction.
On Wall Street overnight, major U.S. benchmarks rebounded strongly. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.9%, the S&P 500 rose 1.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 2.5%.
In commodities, ICE Brent crude fell 2.9% to settle at US$90.38 per barrel, while spot gold climbed 3.5% to US$4,212.48 per ounce.
In China, equities were weaker. The SSE Composite Index slipped 0.2% to 3,987.0, while the CSI 300 declined 0.6% to 4,722.4.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.7% to 24,249.3, while India’s BSE Sensex eased 0.2% to 73,832.6.
European markets finished higher on Thursday. The UK’s FTSE 100 gained 0.5% to 10,303.9, Germany’s DAX added 0.1% to 24,209.7, and France’s CAC 40 rose 0.5% to 8,200.8.
