Oil prices spike as U.S. moves to blockade Strait of Hormuz, Asian markets slide

Tokyo: Oil prices resumed their climb and Asian markets mostly declined Monday as the U.S. military prepared to blockade ships entering or leaving the Strait of Hormuz, where most shipping has been stalled by Iran since the start of the war. U.S. President Donald Trump announced the planned blockade after U.S.-Iran ceasefire talks in Pakistan ended without an agreement, and the U.S. military said the blockade involving all Iranian ports would begin Monday at 10 a.m. EDT, or 5:30 p.m. in Iran. Oil prices have been rising as shipping through the strait has essentially stalled since late February. Brent crude oil, the international standard, has gone from roughly $70 per barrel before the war in late February to more than $119 at times. On Monday, benchmark U.S. crude jumped $8.38 or 8.7% to $104.95 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, rose $7.00, or 7.4%, to $102.23 a barrel. Japan 's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1.0% in morning trading to 56,357.40. Australia 's S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.5% to 8,913.50. South Korea 's Kospi dipped 1.1% to 5,795.15. Hong Kong 's Hang Seng slipped nearly 1.5% to 25,513.42, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.2% to 3,976.57. Analysts said global trading was expected to remain turbulent for some time. "The outcome of the talks was not really what people were hoping for, that 's for certain," Neil Newman, Managing Director, Head of Strategy at Astris Advisory Japan, said in Hong Kong. "As we stand here at the moment, it doesn 't look very nice. Certainly, the oil prices are a big concern." Wall Street ended last week with a second weekly gain in a row. The S&P 500 inched 0.1% lower Friday after a day of choppy trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.4%. But those gains came amid optimism over the weekend peace talks in Pakistan that was shattered by the later developments. The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.32% last Friday from 4.29% late Thursday. All told, the S&P 500 fell 7.77 points to 6,816.89. The Dow dropped 269.23 points to 47,916.57, and the Nasdaq gained 80.48 points to close at 22,902.89. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar gained to 159.74 Japanese yen from 159.25 yen. The euro cost $1.1687, down from $1.1729.