A man passes an electronic quotation board displaying the Nikkei 225 stock prices on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo on March 31, 2026. (Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP via Getty Images)
Kazuhiro Nogi | Afp | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets opened mostly lower Thursday, tracking overnight losses in key Wall Street benchmarks as oil prices extended gains amid a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, while the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady.
Oil climbed after The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials, reported that President Donald Trump had told aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran. Prices extended gains after Axios reported that Trump rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, signaling the U.S. naval blockade will remain until a deal addressing Tehran’s nuclear program is reached.
Brent crude rose about 1.96% to around $120 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate added 0.2% to $107.09.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.43%.
Japanese markets declined as trading resumed after a holiday. The benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.91%, while the Topix fell 1.48%. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.36% higher while the small-cap Kosdaq was down 0.25%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures last traded at 25,729, compared with the index’s Wednesday close of 26,111.84.
In the U.S., futures tied to the S&P 500 added 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.5%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 128 points, or 0.2%.
Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower. The 30-stock index fell 280.12 points, or 0.57%, to close at 48,861.81 and notch a fifth straight losing day. The S&P 500 inched down 0.04% to close at 7,135.95, while the Nasdaq Composite crept up 0.04% to 24,673.24.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.