Oil prices dipped and stocks inched higher on hopes for an 11th-hour ceasefire between Washington and Tehran, even as damage to Gulf oil and gas infrastructure mounted.
Operations were halted at a UAE petrochemicals plant and Kuwaiti facilities were fighting off blazes, both as a result of Iranian attacks; Israel, meanwhile, hit an Iranian petrochemical complex over the weekend.
Though some oil has been routed to global markets via the Red Sea, the ongoing attacks and the strangling of the Strait of Hormuz have hammered Asian economies in particular: Saudi Arabia has raised the premium it charges for its principal oil grade bound for Asia to record levels, Bloomberg reported.
