Oil price continues to rise amid Middle East crisis but stock markets rebound across Asia
Stock markets have rebounded in Asia after days of heavy losses driven by the war in the Middle East, but oil and gas prices have continued to climb amid disruption to supplies.South Korea’s KOSPI, which posted its biggest ever fall on Tuesday of 12%, rose by almost 10% on Thursday, while Japan’s Nikkei climbed by 1.9%.MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index excluding Japan jumped by 2.7%.
Oil rose further after Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported that US oil tanker in the northern Persian Gulf had been hit by a missile launched by Iranian forces.Brent crude lifted by 3.3% to $84 a barrel.Gas prices also pushed higher, with UK gas up almost 1%, while European natural gas futures climbed 2%.Qatar, the Gulf’s biggest liquefied natural gas producer, suspended activity at its facilities on Monday and declared force majeure on gas exports on Wednesday, freeing it from contractual obligations to its customers.
Reuters quoted sources as saying that a return to normal production volumes could take at least a month.In the Middle East, the Abu Dhabi stock market fell by 2.6% while the Dubai exchange was down 2.2%.Both exchanges said they would temporarily set a 5% lower price limit on securities.
In London, the FTSE 100 index slipped by 0.3% in early trading, but later rose 60 points, or about 0.5%.Wizz Air, which has cancelled flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman until 15 March, warned of a €50m (£43m) hit to annual profits, also reflecting the impact of higher jet fuel costs.This means net profits this year are likely to be below its previous range of a €25m loss to a €25m profit, the Hungarian airline said.
Its London-listed shares fell as much as 6%, and other airline stocks also declined.China’s government has told the country’s biggest oil refiners to halt exports of diesel and gasoline as it faces disruption to crude supplies, according to Bloomberg.Its reported that officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planning body, had met refinery executives and called for a temporary suspension of refined product shipments that would begin immediately.In South Korea, a ruling party lawmaker warned that the US-Israeli war with Iran, now in its sixth day, could disrupt supplies of important semiconductor manufacturing materials.South Korea’s chip industry, which supplies two-thirds of global memory chips, is also concerned that a prolonged conflict in Iran will lead to higher energy costs and prices, Kim Young-bae said after meeting with executives from firms such as Samsung Electronics and trade groups.
Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management, said: “The geopolitical backdrop remains as combustible as ever.President Donald Trump continues to project confidence in the military campaign against Iran even as the timeline for operations remains murky.Missiles are still flying across the region, and bombs are still falling.“Yet the strategic calculus on trading desks has begun to shift subtly but importantly.Intelligence circulating through US Command channels suggests Iran’s conventional military capacity is deteriorating quickly after huge naval losses and sustained airstrikes on missile-launching capabilities.
”He also pointed to “solid” economic data for the US, a strong ADP jobs report and a jump in service sector activity, according to a survey,Another boost to Asian stock markets came from China setting out a five-year roadmap to speed up scientific breakthroughs and embed AI across its industrial economic machine,
Slower UK interest rate cuts likely as some mortgage providers hike rates; oil and gas prices rising again – as it happened
The travel disruption, the higher oil price and the fall in the euro caused by the Iran war has prompted low-cost airline Wizz Air to issue a profits warning.Wizz Air warned investors last night that it believes the current crisis in the Middle East will wipe €50m off its profits this financial years.Wizz had previously predicted that earnings would fall within a profit of €25m to a loss of €25m, so today’s warning means it expects a loss for the year.The company told the City:double quotation markIn terms of the expected impact, approximately one third is a result of the cessation of certain scheduled services to the Middle East, with the remainder from the adverse movement in macroeconomic factors as a result of the Iran conflict.Our assessment of the impact of these macroeconomic factors is based on jet fuel and US$/€ rates as of today, and assumes that these rates will remain at current levels for rest of Fiscal Year 2026
Emma Walmsley’s pay rose almost 50% to £15.6m in final year as GSK boss
GSK awarded Emma Walmsley a near-50% pay rise to £15.6m in her final year as chief executive of Britain’s second-biggest drugmaker.Walmsley, who led the FTSE 100 company from 2017 and handed over to Luke Miels at the start of this year, was paid a salary of £1.4m in 2025, slightly higher than the previous year, while her annual bonus rose to £3.5m, up from £2
Retailers want ‘delightfully human’ AI to do your shopping, but will the chatbots go rogue?
Major retailers say it won’t be long before sophisticated AI “assistants” plan your meals, organise your parties and do your shopping.But companies, many that are already struggling with their more primitive AI chatbots, will have to balance making the newer, “agentic” bots relatable without them going rogue.AI chatbots were in the news recently when Woolworths reined in its virtual shopping assistant, Olive, after the company’s attempt to have the robot relate to customers on a human level backfired.Customers reported feeling annoyed rather than soothed when Olive told them about its “relatives” over the phone.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailAs one complained on Reddit: “I’m already pissed that I have to call and now I’ve got some robot babbling to me on the phone? Wtf Woolies?”While Woolworths has said it will dial down Olive’s quirky personality, the incident – and further testing by Guardian Australia of a range of retailers’ chatbots – shows the technology still has teething problems
Google Pixel 10a review: cheaper Android is great, but no real advance
The latest smartphone in the lower-cost A-series Pixel line shows what makes Google phones so good, while undercutting the competition on price. The problem is that it differs little from its predecessor, which is still on sale.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more
India v England: men’s T20 World Cup semi-final – live
Castled by the googly! But still, 25 was Buttler’s best innings for ages.5th over: England 45-2 (Buttler 25, Bethell 7) That was inspired captaincy from Surykumar Yadav, who kept Bumrah up his sleeve until Brook was there (not that it took long). Brook wasn’t expecting the slower ball, whereas the Indian batters seemed to see England’s pace-off varieties coming a mile off.Jacob Bethell, who is not easily fazed, gets off the mark with a six, whipped to fine leg. But then Bumrah bamboozles him outside off and he’s lucky to get away with a loopy edge
Wales can find a way to fly against Ireland if they manage to dump their baggage
It’s unlikely Steve Tandy got to this point in his coaching career without ever alluding to the joy of playing with no baggage. Between club and country over the years he must have reminded his players that the lads down the corridor would be bearing the load, so that’s one thing less to worry about. And with that realisation comes a certain lightness. We’re not talking about the freedom of skipping around the park, picking out faces in the crowd and drinking in the atmosphere of a Six Nations tie, rather getting some value from being spared the burden of expectation.For Wales this has come at a price
Nissan ‘says Sunderland plant could close’ if UK excluded from Made in Europe rules
Oil price continues to rise amid Middle East crisis but stock markets rebound across Asia
Sam Altman admits OpenAI can’t control Pentagon’s use of AI
Elon Musk takes witness stand in trial over Twitter takeover
From a 19-time world champ to Monster Mike: US athletes to watch at the 2026 Winter Paralympics
Emma Raducanu hopes to rediscover ‘natural’ style that has been ‘coached out of me’