Asian stocks ended higher Tuesday. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 was up 2.4% to 57,877.39. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.7% to 5,967.75 after briefly topping 6,000 intraday.
Oil prices continued to pull back on Tuesday from earlier gains. Brent crude, the international standard, was down 0.4% to $98.93 per barrel. It reached nearly $104 early Monday morning over Iran war worries on limited progress from the weekend ceasefire talks.
Benchmark U.S. crude fell 2% to $97.09 a barrel.
Investors are still hopeful for a lasting de-escalation of the Iran war, which is in its seventh week, as the U.S. and Iran are said to be weighing a second round of talks before a temporary ceasefire agreement expires next week. The U.S. military on Monday began a blockade of Iranian ports as Washington steps up its pressure on Tehran, following ceasefire talks between the two sides over the weekend that ended without an agreement.
