Asian Markets Up Sharply On US-Iran Peace Deal Hopes

(RTTNews) - Asian markets are up firmly in positive territory on Friday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street following U.S. President Donald Trump calling off strikes against Iran.

In a post on Truth Social, the U.S. President said that the decision was "based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved."

Trump has said earlier that the U.S. would be hitting Iran "very hard tonight" and claimed he plans to assume total control of their oil and gas markets "at some point in the not too distant future."

Stocks from across several sectors are up with strong gains in the Australian market today. The major averages S&P/ASX 200 and the All Ordinaries are up 1.9% and 1.8%, at 8,796.00 and 8,997.00, respectively.

Stocks from materials, financial, real estate, consumer discretionary and industrials sectors are among the most impressive gainers.

Among bank stocks, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corporation, National Australia Bank and ANZ Bank are up 1.5%-2.3%. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank is gaining about 1.3% and Bank of Queensland is rising 1.2%.

PLS Group, Evolution Mining, Lynas Rare Earths, Quantas Airways and Mineral Resources are up more than 4%.

BHP Group, Wesfarmers, Macquarie Group, Fortescue, CSL, Aristocrat Leisure, Brambles, South32, Suncorp, SGH, JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman Holdings are up 1%-3%.

The Japanese market is up with investors picking up stocks across the board. The Nikkei 225 was up nearly 3.5% at 66,448 at the end of the morning session.

Mitui Mining & Smelting is up 17%. Disco Corp. is soaring 13.2%. Tokyo Electron is surging 10.3%. Sumitomo Metal Mining, Advantest Corp., Dainippon Screen Manufacturing, Kioxia Holdings and Sumitomo Electric Industries are up 8%-10%.

Sumco Corp., Nikon, Yaskawa Electric, Resonac Holdings, Japan Steel Works, Ebara Corp, Dowa Holdings, Denka, Amada, Okuma Corp., Nissan Chemical Holdings, Japan Post, Taiyo Yuden and Yokohoma Rubber are gaining 4%-7%.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Toto, Suzuki Motor, IHI Corp., Yokohama Financial, Mizuho Financial, Takashimaya, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Fast Retailing, Kobe Steel, Toray Industries and JFE Holdings are also up sharply.

Dentsu, Sony, Fujitsu, NEC Corp., Trend Micro, Toho, Honda Motor, Sharp, Softbank Corp, Inpex Corp., and Konami Corp. are down in negative territory.

In Seoul, stocks are up sharply for a second straight session, amid hopes of a U.S.-Iran peace deal. Semiconductor stocks are among the handsome gainers.

The benchmark KOSPI, which soared to 8,424.13 earlier, was up 603.20 points or 7.8% at 8,367.15 a little while ago.

Samsung Electronics is soaring nearly 12%. SK Square, Samsung Life Insurance, Samsun C&T Corp., Kia Corporation, Hyndain Motor, LG Energy Solution, Hanwha Aerospace, SK Hynix are among the several other strong gainers.

Among other markets in the region, Shanghai and Hong Kong are up firmly with their benchmarks Shanghai Composite and Hang Seng gaining 1.9% and 1.8%, respectively.

Markets in Indonesia, New Zealand and Singapore are also trading notably higher, while the Malaysian market is up marginally.

On Wall Street, the major averages pulled back off their highs going into the end of the day but still posted strong gains. The Nasdaq surged 640.16 points or 2.5% to 25,809.66, the Dow shot up 929.97 points or 1.9% to 50,848.75 and the S&P 500 jumped 127.31 points or 1.8% to 7,394.30.