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- Oil prices rise on U.S.-Iran tensions
- Asian shares edge higher
- Most Gulf stock markets retreat
- Dollar edges lower, gold gains
Oil prices
Oil prices rose early on Monday on worries over heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.
United States President Donald Trump said last week that he called off a military strike to retaliate against Iran’s downing of an unmanned U.S. drone. He added on Sunday that he was not seeking war with Iran, according to a Reuters report.
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced on Sunday he will travel to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates for talks, and repeated his offer for negotiations with Iran "with no preconditions" to de-escalate tensions.
But U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said “significant” sanctions on Iran would be announced on Monday.
Brent futures were up 25 cents, or 0.4%, at $65.45 a barrel by 0325 GMT.
West Texas Intermediate crude was up 37 cents, or 0.6%, at $57.80 a barrel.
“The Middle East clashes should support oil prices at the start of the week as crude markets will wait to see Iran’s response to the threat of additional sanctions,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York, told Reuters.
Global markets
Asian shares edged higher early on Monday, but gains were limited as investors monitored cautiously trade negotiations between the United States and China.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.16% in early trade while Japan’s Nikkei ticked down 0.26%.
“Event-driven players are buying back stocks as U.S. and China at least appear to be talking to each other,” Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities, told Reuters.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 33.84 points by 0.13 percent to 26,719.33 on Friday, while the S&P 500 decreased by 3.68 points, or 0.12 percent to 2,950.5. The Nasdaq Composite lost 19.63 points, or 0.24 percent, to 8,031.71.
Middle East markets
Most Gulf stock markets dropped on Sunday.
The Saudi index fell 1.5% as Al-Rajhi Bank lost 1.3%, Samba Financial Group dropped 3.6%, and National Commercial Bank fell 1.9%.
In Dubai, the index lost 0.7% as developer Emaar Properties fell 1.6% and budget carrier Air Arabia lost 1.0%.
The Abu Dhabi index shed 1.1%, hurt by a 1.7% drop in First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), the United Arab Emirates' biggest lender.
Qatar's index lost 1.3%, as Qatar National Bank fell 1.9% and Industries Qatar dropped 1.4%.
Egypt’s blue-chip index edged 0.2 percent lower, Kuwait’s premier market index dropped 0.4 percent while Oman’s index edged 0.1 percent lower and Bahrain’s index edged up 0.1 percent.
Currencies
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies was a shade lower at 96.135.
Precious metals
Gold prices added gains on a weaker dollar.
Spot gold was up 0.6% at $1,406.56 per ounce as of 0114 GMT.
U.S. gold futures rose 0.7% to $1,410.20 per ounce.
Reporting by Gerard Aoun; Editing by Mily Chakrabarty)
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