Asian equities climbed on Monday as expectations of a U.S.-Iran de‑escalation helped push oil prices sharply lower, easing inflation and interest‑rate worries ahead of pivotal meetings by the Federal Reserve, Bank of England and Bank of Japan this week.
Iran halted retaliatory strikes and reported progress in talks with Oman over Strait of Hormuz management, following a second consecutive night of U.S. strike pauses after nearly two weeks of actions.
The truce‑driven pause in hostilities sent Brent crude sliding toward $90 a barrel, while the U.S. dollar index weakened and gold rose more than 1 % to exceed $4,100 an ounce.
The Shanghai Composite rose 1.15 % to 3,858.24, boosted by a near‑500 % debut surge of CXMT, China’s leading memory‑chip producer, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.98 % to 25,207.18.
Japanese equities reversed early losses to close higher, with the Nikkei gaining 0.5 % at 64,931.19 and the Topix up 1.37 % at 4,066.07, as easing Middle‑East tensions outweighed AI‑investment concerns.
Technology shares slipped, with chip‑testing equipment maker Advantest down 2 % on anticipation of its earnings release on Wednesday, and memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings losing 2.6 % ahead of its Friday results.
Seoul’s Kospi surged 0.97 % to 6,755.75, ending a volatile session with tech stocks leading the gain.
Samsung Electronics climbed 1.8 % after securing a cooperation agreement with U.S. chip designer Broadcom covering memory chips, contract manufacturing and advanced packaging; SK Hynix jumped 3.2 %.
Australian equities rose, with the S&P/ASX 200 gaining 1.39 % to 8,894 and the All Ordinaries up 1.37 % to 9,063.80, as a services‑sector gauge hit a six‑month high in July and traders awaited CPI data for hints on Reserve Bank policy.
New Zealand’s S&P/NZX‑50 rose 0.57 % to 13,850.69, overcoming early declines and ending a two‑day slide.
U.S. stocks closed mixed on Friday, with oil prices falling sharply and bond yields easing after reports that Pakistan is exploring new U.S.-Iran talks; a fresh round of tariffs on 60 trading partners over forced‑labor concerns also took effect, and a gauge of U.S. business activity expanded at its fastest pace in eight months in July, aided by the World Cup. The Nasdaq dipped 0.6 % amid AI‑related jitters, while the S&P 500 edged higher and the Dow gained half a percent.
