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What is the story about?
Asian stocks opened lower and S&P 500 contracts slipped 0.2% on Thursday after Iran said several terms of the agreement of the ceasefire proposal had been breached.
MSCI's Asia Pacific index declined 0.4% with losses in South Korea, Japan and Australia. Oil prices rebounded.
The Iran Parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said three clauses of the proposal had been contravened, so far. On Wednesday, stocks had rallied on optimism a ceasefire deal between Iran and US would help ease the flow of crude oil and support economic growth.
Weighing on sentiment was Brent crude oil, which rose 2.5% to $97.12 a barrel after a 13% plunge in the previous session. Treasuries wiped out an early rally in the US session and Australian government bonds dropped in early Thursday trading.
The moves highlight how tentative market confidence remains after a cross-asset relief rally sparked by Washington’s pledge to halt strikes on Iran for two weeks and pursue talks with the Islamic Republic. Israeli attacks in Lebanon threatened to derail the ceasefire in the six-week conflict, which has already roiled energy markets with the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for crude oil flows from the Middle East.
Sporadic fighting continued throughout the Middle East, including in Lebanon, where Israel continued its campaign against the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia. Iranian officials cast that as violating the terms of the less than a day-old ceasefire.
Meanwhile, a key Saudi oil pipeline to the Red Sea suffered limited damage from an earlier drone strike on one of its pumping stations, and crude flows continued, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported.
A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar edged up 0.1% on Thursday, while gold dropped 0.4% to $4,700 an ounce. Bitcoin was a touch weaker, trading around $71,000.
With inputs from Bloomberg
MSCI's Asia Pacific index declined 0.4% with losses in South Korea, Japan and Australia. Oil prices rebounded.
The Iran Parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said three clauses of the proposal had been contravened, so far. On Wednesday, stocks had rallied on optimism a ceasefire deal between Iran and US would help ease the flow of crude oil and support economic growth.
Weighing on sentiment was Brent crude oil, which rose 2.5% to $97.12 a barrel after a 13% plunge in the previous session. Treasuries wiped out an early rally in the US session and Australian government bonds dropped in early Thursday trading.
The moves highlight how tentative market confidence remains after a cross-asset relief rally sparked by Washington’s pledge to halt strikes on Iran for two weeks and pursue talks with the Islamic Republic. Israeli attacks in Lebanon threatened to derail the ceasefire in the six-week conflict, which has already roiled energy markets with the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for crude oil flows from the Middle East.
Sporadic fighting continued throughout the Middle East, including in Lebanon, where Israel continued its campaign against the Iran-aligned Hezbollah militia. Iranian officials cast that as violating the terms of the less than a day-old ceasefire.
Meanwhile, a key Saudi oil pipeline to the Red Sea suffered limited damage from an earlier drone strike on one of its pumping stations, and crude flows continued, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported.
A Bloomberg gauge of the dollar edged up 0.1% on Thursday, while gold dropped 0.4% to $4,700 an ounce. Bitcoin was a touch weaker, trading around $71,000.
With inputs from Bloomberg
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