Brent crude drops as much as 1.6 percent, while key stock indices in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan climb. Published On 18 Jun 202618 Jun 2026Oil prices have dropped following the United States and Iran’s signing of an interim peace agreement, resuming a slide interrupted by US President Donald Trump’s warning that he could restart his military campaign.Brent crude fell 1.9 percent on Thursday morning in Asia, returning the international benchmark to almost exactly where it was 24 hours previously.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listBrent futures for delivery in August stood at $78.07 as of 04:30 GMT, only about 7 percent higher than before the US and Israel launched their war on Iran on February 28.After several days of declines, Brent briefly spiked above $81 a barrel on Wednesday after Trump warned that the US could “go right back to dropping bombs” on Iran if it doesn’t “behave”.Asian stock markets rallied on renewed optimism that the agreement would bring an end to nearly four months of disruption to global energy supply chains.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi both hit all-time highs, gaining more than 2 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.Taiwan’s Taiex rose as much as 1.3 percent.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index bucked the trend, dropping 1.7 percent.US stock futures, which are traded outside of regular market hours and often foreshadow the next day’s performance, climbed, with those tied to the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbing about 0.8 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. A man walks next to an electronic quotation board displaying the Nikkei 225 stock prices on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo, Japan, on June 18, 2026 [Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP]Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who mediated the negotiations between Washington and Te …
