Pedestrians walk past the Exchange Square complex, which houses the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, in Hong Kong, China, on Tuesday, March 23, 2021.
Paul Yeung | Bloomberg via Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets fell Friday following a volatile session on Wall Street overnight, as the prospect of a peace deal in the Middle East remained murky amid contradictory messaging from the U.S. and Iran.
President Donald Trump extended his Friday deadline to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure by 10 days to April 6 to allow more time for negotiations.
The extension was at the request of the government of the Islamic Republic, Trump said, and it was granted in exchange for 10 oil tankers that passed through the Strait of Hormuz as a “present” from Tehran.
“As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
“Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” Trump added.
Washington has in recent days signaled it wants a negotiated end to the conflict and insisted that peace talks with the Islamic Republic had been ongoing. Tehran has denied that it is in direct talks with the U.S.
Iran reportedly rejected the 15-point proposal compiled by the U.S. and offered their own conditions, including a guarantee that the U.S. and Israel won’t resume their attacks on the country and recognition of its authority over the Strait of Hormuz.
Oil prices fell amid easing tensions in the almost month-long conflict. The West Texas Intermediate for May delivery dropped 1.8% to $92.82 per barrel as of 8:30 p.m. ET, while international benchmark Brent crude oil futures fell 1.92% to $105.9 a barrel.
South Korea led the broader declines in the region with blue-chip Kospi pulling back 3.6% and the small-cap Kosdaq down 2%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.42% in early Asia trade. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.6%, and the broad-based Topix slid 0.8%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.2% while mainland China’s CSI 300 tumbled 0.4%.
China’s industrial profits jumped 15.2% from a year earlier in the January-February period, the National Bureau of Statistics data showed Friday, extending a sharp rebound from a 5.3% jump in December.
