War breaks out in Iran; Strait of Hormuz still closed as Trump pushes for a deal.
its worst day since the start of the Iran war,
World stocks fell and oil rose again on Friday after Wall Street suffered its worst day since the start of the Iran war, amid growing doubts about easing tensions.
Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 9,939.96 in early European trading. France’s CAC 40 fell 0.7% to 7,718.97 and Germany’s DAX fell 1.3% to 22,314.28.
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.4% to 53,373.07. South Korea’s Kospi also fell 0.4% to 5,438.87, paring a sharp decline at the close of trading earlier in the day.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.4% at 24,951.88, after falling earlier in the day, while the Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.6% at 3,913.72.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1% to 8,516.30.
Taiwan’s Taiex was down 0.7%, while India’s Sensex lost 2.1%.
Wall Street on Thursday suffered its worst decline since the Iran war began, with the S&P 500 falling 1.7% to 6,477.16 in its worst day since January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1% to 45,960.11. The Nasdaq Composite fell 2.4% to 21,408.08 and is 10% below its recent all-time high, considered a “correction.”.
Expectations of talks between Washington and Tehran this week to reduce tensions have created turmoil in the market.
Shortly after Wall Street trading closed on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said he was postponing a threatened attack on Iran’s energy facilities as he extended to April 6 the deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for transporting oil and gas.
US futures were mostly unchanged on Friday.
