TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search results
Popular Reads
Top Results
No results found. Please check your search term and try again
Can't find what you're looking for?
View all search resultsOil hits one-month high as Mideast war keeps investors on edge
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Motorcyclists line up to refuel with nonsubsidized fuel Pertamax on March 1, 2026, at a gas station in the Kuningan area, Jakarta. (Antara/Indrianto Eko Suwarso)
B
rent crude hit on Monday its highest price since June due to renewed fighting between the United States and Iran, while Asian equities were mixed as investors weighed the fallout of a prolonged Middle East war.
Crude has surged over the past week as Washington and Tehran traded fire, raising fears of a sustained disruption in the Strait of Hormuz, which carries around a fifth of the world's seaborne oil.
Both Brent crude and US benchmark West Texas Intermediate extended their gains after climbing more than four percent at the end of last week. Brent rose above US$91 a barrel, its highest price since June 11.
The latest moves came after another weekend of escalating fighting, with the United States carrying out fresh strikes on Iranian targets and Tehran responding with attacks on regional military assets in the Gulf.
The conflicting signals have left investors struggling to gauge the outlook for markets.
Higher crude prices have revived concerns that inflation could remain elevated and complicate the path to lower interest rates, but some analysts argue the broader economic backdrop is becoming more supportive.
"Markets are once again being forced to trade two seemingly contradictory stories on the same screen," said Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management.
While the renewed rise in oil prices has injected a fresh geopolitical risk premium into markets, he said cooling underlying US inflation and a softer labour market suggested the energy shock would not necessarily trigger a new cycle of broad-based inflation.
Instead, the biggest risk would come if elevated oil prices persist long enough to erode household spending and weigh on economic growth.
In Asia, the market was mixed.
Chinese shares outperformed as investors extended a recent rally on expectations Beijing will unveil further measures to support the economy after last week's economic data.
Chinese markets were ahead, with Hong Kong adding more than 2 percent and Shanghai up 1.32 percent. Taipei, Manila and Singapore also edged higher.
Elsewhere, however, caution prevailed. Seoul, Sydney and Wellington opened down.
The mellow performance followed another weak session on Wall Street, where all three major indexes finished lower on Friday as investors continued to rotate out of technology shares while keeping a close watch on developments in the Gulf.
Gold eased despite the geopolitical uncertainty, falling 0.40 percent, while silver advanced 1 percent.
