BANGKOK (AP) — Oil prices climbed early Tuesday as fighting intensified in the Middle East, while Asian shares were mixed as markets in Tokyo and Seoul rebounded from early losses. The price of Brent crude climbed more than 2.3% to $85.18 a barrel after soaring nearly 10% on Monday. U.S. benchmark crude was up 2.5% at $80.15 a barrel.Oil prices are still below their wartime peak of nearly $120 a barrel, but uncertainty over the future stability of supplies has deepened as the U.S. and Iran each assert they control the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. share futures were mixed as the U.S. launched more strikes on Iran after U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington was “reinstating” a blockade on Iran in the strait. Fighting in the region has kept oil tankers from using the waterway to deliver crude to customers from the Persian Gulf, driving up fuel prices worldwide. In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.7% to 67,743.50.
Shares in SoftBank Group, which has huge investments in AI, jumped 2.3% after its chairman, Masayoshi Son, gave a speech at a company event in Tokyo where he derided the idea that there is a bubble in investments in capacity for AI. The Kospi in South Korea climbed 0.7% to 6,856.83.
