Oil prices climbed on Monday to their highest since November following reports that Washington will end sanctions waivers to countries that import Iranian crude.
Mike Pompeo, US secretary of state, will on Monday announce a move to end waivers when they expire in early May, a US official told the Financial Times, in the latest effort by Donald Trump’s administration to ratchet up pressure on Iran.
The move sparked a rally in oil prices. Global benchmark Brent crude jumped as much as 3.3 per cent in Asia trading to $74.31, its highest since November. West Texas Intermediate, the US price, rose as much as 2.9 per cent to $65.87, also near a six-month high.
Foreign exchange and equities markets mostly posted small moves with much of Asia-Pacific offline for Easter. However, Chinese stocks fell from near their highest in 2019, with the CSI 300 of major stocks in Shanghai and Shenzhen down 1.8 per cent.
Most stock bourses in western Europe, including the UK, France and Germany, were also closed for the holiday. Stock-index futures tracking Wall Street’s S&P 500 index were down 0.21 per cent ahead of what was expected to be a muted trading day.
