Oil price continues to rise amid Middle East crisis but stock markets rebound across Asia

Oil price continues to rise amid Middle East crisis but stock markets rebound across Asia Reports of attack on US registered tanker in Gulf lifts crude by 3% to $84 a barrel as gas price also starts to climb Business live – latest updates Middle East crisis – live updates 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%, soared 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. Chi...