US-Iran: Oil prices climb again as ceasefire hangs in balance

Oil prices have risen, while stocks have declined due to concerns regarding the fragile US-Iran ceasefire, following a significant bombardment of Lebanon by Israel.

In the last two hours, Hezbollah reported that it had launched rockets at northern Israel in retaliation for “ceasefire violations.”

Concerns that the ceasefire may collapse while crude oil remains stagnant in Hormuz led to a nearly 3% increase in West Texas Intermediate oil on Thursday, recovering from a drop of over 16% the previous day. Brent crude also rose by more than 2% after experiencing a 13% decline.

Equities have also retraced some of their earlier gains. In early Asian trading, markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, and Taipei all showed slight decreases.

Meanwhile, independent analysts report no noticeable change in traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

This observation comes despite assertions from the White House on Wednesday that there had been an increase in the number of vessels passing through the strategic waterway since the US announced a ceasefire with Iran.

Windward, a maritime intelligence company that monitors international shipping, indicated that only 11 vessels transited the strait on Wednesday, which is consistent with the numbers from previous days.