Global markets rallied on Wednesday, while oil prices fell below the $100 line, after the ceasefire announcement between the United States, Israel, and Iran.
The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) barrel of oil is trading 16% lower than on Tuesday; the Brent barrel is trading 15% lower, while crude oil on the Tokyo exchange is selling 1,3% below its level yesterday, according to data shared by Bloomberg.
Natural gas contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange have also been falling, with prices 5% lower than on Tuesday.
In contrast, the S&P 500 opened on Wednesday 0,1% up and completely recovered from the fall it had on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump said the US would "destroy an entire civilization if there was no agreement with Iran."
The same situation was observed in the NASDAQ 100 index, which also opened 0,1% higher after the two-week ceasefire agreement.
Asian markets open in green
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei was up about 5.4% while South Korea's KOSPI gained 6.8%, triggering a brief halt in trading. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 1%.
The S&P/TOPIX 150, which has some of Japan's biggest companies listed, also saw 3,4% rise after the ceasefire announcement.
In the Middle East, Dubai's main market spiked as much as 8.5%, its highest intraday gain in more than 11 years, while Abu Dhabi's benchmark index climbed as much as 4.9% in early trade, its biggest jump in six years, the Qatar index jumped 3.4%, and Saudi Arabia's benchmark index opened 1,4% higher.
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is currently closed for the Passover holiday and has no trading activity; the first trades are expected on Thursday morning.
Shipping data shows Strait of Hormuz still mostly untransited
According to data from Marinnetraffic, a specialized website for tracking maritime vessels, most ships in the Persian Gulf remain stationary, waiting to secure passage through the Strait of Hormuz.
“The ceasefire is a necessary first step, but it does not mean commercial shipping immediately normalizes through the international traffic lanes in the Strait,” Charlie Brown, senior advisor of Dark Fleet Tracking at United Against Nuclear Iran, told CNN.
