Asian stocks pare gains, oil edges up on Tuesday

Published Tue, Mar 24, 2026 · 10:31 AM

ASIAN stocks pared early gains and equity-index futures reversed course, signalling that the fragile optimism around a potential de-escalation in Middle East tensions may be fading. Gold extended its slump, on track for its longest losing streak on record.

Asian shares pared their earlier jump of as much as 1.7 per cent to a gain of 0.9 per cent, while contracts for the S&P 500 dropped 0.6 per cent after the Wall Street Journal reported that US allies in the Persian Gulf are inching toward joining the fight against Iran.

Sentiment further weakened after an Iranian lawmaker ruled out negotiations with the US.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2 per cent and gold reversed earlier gains to decline for a 10th consecutive day. The yellow metal fell 1.4 per cent to trade around US$4,340 an ounce.

Silver tumbled 2.5 per cent, while yields on the 10-year Treasury reversed earlier losses to rise three basis points to 4.37 per cent.

Brent crude rose 2 per cent to almost US$102 a barrel. The Strait of Hormuz remained effectively shut with only a trickle of vessels making their way through the key waterway. The commodity had plunged 11 per cent on Monday following Trump’s comments.

Wall Street gauges rose on Monday after President Donald Trump had signalled a delay in planned strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure, citing talks with Teheran and boosting hopes for de-escalation in the Middle East.

Tuesday’s whipsawing moves show how quickly geopolitics can sway global markets, with the Strait — a chokepoint for about a fifth of global oil and LNG flows — at the centre.

Since the conflict began, disruptions to traffic through the narrow waterway have driven sharp price swings and heightened inflation risks, leaving progress in US-Iran talks pivotal to stabilizing energy markets and broader financial conditions.

“The situation is still very fluid,” Suresh Tantia, head CIO of Asia equity strategy at UBS Global Wealth Management, said on Bloomberg TV.

“It’s quite possible that a week later we get further escalation because there are asks from both sides and it might be very difficult to reach a final conclusion with a very short period of time. So I think markets could still remain volatile in the short term.”

Trump had told reporters on Monday that he was holding off on striking Iranian energy infrastructure for five days, citing “major points of agreement” with Iran.

The abrupt shift caught traders off guard. There had been little sign of diplomatic progress before the US president’s post.

Even so, tensions remained in the Middle East. A gas pressure-regulation station and an associated administrative building were targeted in Iran’s central Isfahan province in recent US–Israeli attacks, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

The key to de-escalation is not rhetoric, but financial conditions, said Noureldeen AlHammoury, chief market strategist at Equiti Group in Dubai. 

If oil sustains above US$120, US 10-year yields approach 4.75 per cent, and equities see a sharp drawdown, the situation quickly becomes an economic problem rather than a geopolitical one, he said.

“That is the point where policy shifts and de-escalation become more likely,” he added. “We have seen a similar pattern before — when financial conditions tightened sharply during prior tariff escalations, policy tone shifted quickly to stabilise markets.” BLOOMBERG