Kazuhiro Nogi | AFP | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets opened lower Friday, as cautious optimism over the Middle East conflict tempered sentiment, diverging from Wall Street’s record-setting rally.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said that the war in Iran “should be ending pretty soon,” reiterating rosy predictions about the end of the conflict.
Hours earlier, Trump confirmed that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to a 10-day ceasefire, starting at 5 p.m. ET. Iran’s parliament speaker has said that Israel halting attacks on Lebanon is a key condition for U.S.-Iran negotiations to start.
The next round of in-person talks between the U.S. and Iran may occur “probably, maybe, next weekend,” Trump said Thursday. A two-week ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran will expire on April 21.
West Texas Intermediate fell 1.43% to $93.34 per barrel as of 8:02 p.m. ET, while Brent crude fell 1.14% to S$98.28 per barrel.
Japan’s export credit agency, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, will set up an investment window of up to 600 billion yen ($3.8 billion) to help Asian countries secure energy supplies, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said.
She added that oil market volatility is affecting foreign exchange markets.
Investors are also digesting comments by Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda on Friday, who said the central bank must take Japan’s low real rates into account when setting policy.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 saw some profit-taking following a record high on Thursday, slipping 0.7%, while the Topix was down 0.62%.
South Korea’s Kospi was down 0.43% while the small-cap Kosdaq declined 0.35%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.28%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 26,229, compared with the index’s last close of 26,394.26.
