From Reuters, May 5/6:
- KOSPI clears 7,000 mark as Samsung joins the $1 trillion club
- MSCI All-Country World Index sets fresh all-time high
- Yen surges to 155 against the dollar as intervention talk swirls
Stocks leapt, oil prices sank and the dollar dropped on Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump touted "great progress" towards a "final agreement" with Tehran, while momentum in AI-driven trades accelerated.Trump said he would briefly pause an operation escorting ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries about a fifth of global oil and has been blockaded by Iran since late February, triggering a global energy crisis. The news sent Brent crude tumbling 1.6% to $108.07 per barrel, while S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 0.3%.MSCI's All-Country World Index rose 0.4% to a fresh record alongside similar milestones for its Emerging Markets benchmark and its broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan which jumped 2.8%. The share surge was led by a 6.6% charge for South Korea's Kospiwhich cleared the 7,000 mark for the first time.Elsewhere in foreign exchange markets, the yen strengthened sharply in afternoon trading, gaining as much as 1.8% to 155 against the dollar as traders remained on the lookout for fresh intervention by authorities in Tokyo in support of the beleaguered currency."There’s a bit of optimism around a U.S.-Iran 'deal' at the moment; it’s possible the authorities decided that was a good moment to give the yen an extra nudge," said Thomas Mathews, head of markets for Asia Pacific at Capital Economics in Wellington. "That said, it might just be thin holiday-affected trade; best to wait and see how it fares towards the end of the week."....
