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June 19, 2026 - 04:08
6 minutes
(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks hovered near record highs in holiday-thinned trading as optimism that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz will restore oil flows and curb inflation pressures buoyed risk appetite.The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed after five straight days of gains. The chip-heavy Kospi was the top performer in the region, jumping 2.6%. A gauge of the sector in the US surged more than 6% to an all-time high, led by Intel Corp., after President Donald Trump said the company would work with Apple Inc. to design and manufacture semiconductors in the country.US equity futures dropped on Friday after the S&P 500 climbed 1.1% and the Nasdaq 100 gained 2.5%. Markets in the US, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are shut for holidays.Global markets are wrapping up a pivotal week marked by a landmark US-Iran agreement, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s first policy meeting and the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise interest rates to the highest level since 1995. Stocks remained resilient despite the barrage of market-moving events, with MSCI Inc.’s index of world shares up 1.3% in what’s poised to be its best week this month.Brent traded around $79 a barrel on Friday. Prices have tumbled about 9% this week as the US-Iran interim peace deal saw shipping through the Strait of Hormuz start to return to normal, easing the global crude market’s biggest ever supply shock. Attention now shifts to talks over Tehran’s nuclear program and the durability of the ceasefire.“Risks have receded after the US-Iran deal, and it’s almost like investors are turning a blind eye to the likelihood of Fed rate hikes,” said Hiroshi Namioka, chief strategist at T&D Asset Management in Tokyo. “That said, the market is relying heavily on tech for gains, which is somewhat concerning. Micron’s earnings next week will serve as a litmus test for the rally, and if they miss, we’ll likely see a sharp selloff in the chip sector.”The US Central Command announced Thursday that it had lifted the blockade on traffic to and from Iranian ports and coastal areas, while Trump posted on Truth Social that “oil is flowing.” US Vice President JD Vance downplayed concerns Iran could eventually impose tolls on traffic through the vital energy waterway.Crude’s recent selloff means that futures have given back almost all of the gains triggered by the war, which erupted in February when the US and Israel attacked Iran over its nuclear program.“The repricing this week has been drastic and part of that came about because of the resumption of Iranian oil almost instantaneously,” Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia, said on Bloomberg Television. “What comes next is the execution risk. There’s a lot of details still to be nutted out.”Two-year Treasury yields steadied around 4.18% on Thursday, after surging 13 basis points to hit the highest in over a year in the previous session, when traders ramped up bets on future interest-rate hikes following the Fed’s hawkish hold.However, 30-year US notes rallied in a sign the market believes inflation will be contained over the longer term, with yields declining three basis points to 4.9%. There is no cash trading in Treasuries during Asian hours due to the US holiday.The Bank of England held rates at 3.75% on Thursday, saying the recent drop in oil prices was “encouraging,” even as two of the nine policymakers voted for an immediate quarter-point hike over concerns of persistent inflation.Meanwhile, the yen remained a key focus in foreign-exchange markets. Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said the government can take bold action against speculative moves, as the currency trades not far from the weakest level in four decades.Elsewhere, gold was on track for a third weekly loss as a hawkish Fed and rate-hike bets outweighed the optimism over the peace deal. A gauge of the dollar was steady and on course for a weekly advance.Corporate Highlights:Bankers for Elon Musk’s SpaceX are preparing to hold calls with investors as soon as next week to discuss a potential bond offering on the heels of the company’s record IPO, according to people with knowledge of the matter. SpaceX is proving that even the largest-ever IPO is not immune to the type of volatility that tends to rock big companies after they go public, with the shares falling for a second straight day. Amazon.com Inc. is in talks to sell its custom-made artificial intelligence chips for use in other companies’ data centers, a key expansion of its efforts to cut into Nvidia Corp.’s dominance. Accenture Plc said it’s expecting to reel in less revenue in the coming months, as artificial intelligence upends the consulting services industry and clients paused business due to the conflict in the Middle East. A parliamentary hearing into KPMG Australia’s alleged misuse of confidential client information began on Friday, with fiery exchanges traded between witnesses and lawmakers. Some of the main moves in markets:StocksS&P 500 futures fell 0.3% as of 11:03 a.m. Tokyo time Japan’s Topix fell 0.4% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1% Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.4% CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1453 The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 161.18 per dollar The offshore yuan fell 0.2% to 6.7910 per dollar CryptocurrenciesBitcoin was little changed at $63,025.73 Ether rose 0.3% to $1,713.01 BondsJapan’s 10-year yield advanced 2.5 basis points to 2.640% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 4.78% CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.6% to $76.14 a barrel Spot gold fell 0.6% to $4,185.20 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.–With assistance from Alice French.©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
