Bitcoin experienced a significant surge, surpassing $72,000 after hovering around $69,000 just an hour prior. This rapid increase in value was fueled by renewed investor confidence following President Donald Trump’s announcement of a two-week ceasefire with Iran just before his 8 p.m. ET deadline.
In response to this development, West Texas Intermediate crude oil saw a dramatic decline of approximately 13%, dropping below $98 per barrel. Meanwhile, US stock futures associated with the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared by 967 points or 2.1%. The S&P 500 futures also increased by 2.1%, while Nasdaq 100 futures rose by an impressive 2.3%.
Following Trump’s ceasefire declaration, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued a statement acknowledging the mediation efforts made by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir to facilitate peace.
Araghchi expressed that Iran valued these diplomatic endeavors and noted that after Sharif’s public appeal for dialogue regarding the US’s proposed fifteen-point plan and Trump’s acceptance of Iran’s ten-point framework, the Supreme National Security Council of Iran declared that if hostilities against them ceased, their military operations would also be halted.
“For two weeks,” Araghchi stated, “safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be coordinated with Iran’s Armed Forces while considering technical limitations.”
In Asia-Pacific markets, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index climbed by 1.74%, closing at 8,728.8 points; Japan’s Nikkei 225 saw a slight increase of just 0.03% to reach 53,429.56 points; while the broader Topix index gained 0.25% to close at 3,654.02 points.
The South Korean Kospi index rose by 0.82% to settle at 5,494.78 points; however,the small-cap Kosdaq fell over 1% down to 1,036.73 points.
Mainland China’s CSI300 index remained stable at 4,44062 points as India’s Nifty50 recovered from earlier losses with an uptick of 0 .23%. The Sensex also added about
0 .25 % amid fluctuating regional trading conditions based on data sourced from TradingView.