Asian Shares Follow Wall Street Higher After Trump's Iran Shift

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks followed Wall Street higher on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump postponed strikes against Iran's power plants for five days, citing what he said were "productive conversations" with Tehran to end the war.

Iran responded by saying that there had been no direct talks and that Trump's move was designed to lower energy prices and "buy time" for his military plans.

Brent crude futures were up more than 2 percent above $98 a barrel in Asian trading after plunging over 10 percent in the New York trading session overnight following Trump's decision to pause strikes on energy infrastructure.

As the conflict entered its 25th day with no immediate signs of de-escalation, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are edging toward joining the fight against Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The dollar index held gains while gold edged up slightly to hover above $4,400 an ounce, after nearing $4,300 earlier on inflation and rate-hike jitters.

China's Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.78 percent to 3,881.28 on hopes for de-escalation in the Middle East conflict. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rallied 2.79 percent to 25,063.71, with tech stocks and financials leading the surge.

Japanese markets rebounded after two consecutive sessions of heavy losses. The Nikkei average surged 1.43 percent to 52,252.28 as the yen held steady and data showed Japan's key inflation gauge slowed more than expected to its weakest pace in nearly four years.

The broader Topix index settled 2.10 percent higher at 3,559.67. As the yen neared 160 per dollar, Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said that the government was ready to act "on all fronts" to address speculative volatility in the currency.

Seoul stocks surged as a sharp fall in oil prices prompted traders to back off some of their more hawkish Federal Reserve bets. The Kospi index climbed 2.74 percent to 5,553.92 after having plunged more than 6 percent the previous day.

Chip giant Samsung Electronics rose 1.8 percent, its rival SK Hynix soared 5.7 percent and battery maker LG Energy Solution jumped 10.3 percent.

Australian markets pared early gains to end modestly higher after a survey signaled near-stagnant manufacturing output in March.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 edged up by 0.16 percent to 8,379.40, snapping a three-session losing streak and rebounding from a 10-month low hit in the previous session. The broader All Ordinaries index closed up 0.22 percent at 8,571.30.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index fell 1.53 percent to 12,701.75 as the U.S.-Iran conflict dragged on.

U.S. stocks rebounded overnight following President Trump's statement that the U.S. and Iran have had "very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East" and therefore he has instructed the military to postpone any strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days.

However, Iran denied these talks had happened. "No negotiations have been held with the U.S., and fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the U.S. and Israel are trapped," Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran's parliament wrote on X.

The Dow, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite both rallied around 1.4 percent while the S&P 500 added 1.2 percent.