Asia Market Quick Take – 14 April, 2026

Asia Market Quick Take – 14 April, 2026 

Key points:  

• Macro: US and Iran weighing talks for longer-term ceasefire 
• Equities: Oracle up 13% after introducing AI features 
• FX: Euro up a sixth straight session, highest since 27 Feb 2026 
• Commodities: Copper hits $6 per pound  while WTI remains below $100 
• Fixed income: 30-year Treasury yield fell to 4.90%, ending a two-day rise 

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Disclaimer: Past performance does not indicate future performance.  

 Macro:  

• The US and Iran are weighing further talks on a longer-term ceasefire before the two-week truce ends. Trump said Tehran initiated contact, while President Pezeshkian expressed conditional readiness for dialogue. Earlier 21-hour talks failed, leading to a US oil blockade of Iranian ports. OPEC+ output fell 7.9 million barrels per day in March due to the Strait of Hormuz shutdown.
• RBA’s Hauser said rates must bring inflation back to the 2–3% target, but the board lacks high confidence they’re at the right level amid a Middle East oil shock and still-high inflation.
• UK like-for-like retail sales rose 3.1% YoY in March 2026, beating the 0.9% forecast and February’s 0.7%, the strongest since April 2025, helped by an early Easter. Food sales jumped 6.8% vs a 2.6% 12‑month average, while non-food rose 0.9%, below its 1.1% average, with clothing and footwear still weak. Middle East–related travel uncertainty hurt travel goods, and the outlook remains uncertain.
• Saudi Arabia’s oil supply slid to 7.76 mb/d in March 2026, the lowest since June 2020 and down from 10.11 mb/d in February amid conflict-related disruptions and a six-week Hormuz closure. Regional output from Iraq, Kuwait, and the UAE also fell. OPEC cut its Q2 demand outlook by 500,000 b/d but kept its full-year forecast ahead of a May 3 review.
• MAS tightened policy and lifted its 2026 inflation forecast to 1.5–2.5% from 1–2%, citing Middle East–driven energy price volatility, and will slightly increase the Singapore dollar NEER appreciation rate while keeping the band’s width and centre unchanged.
• Fed Governor Stephen Miran said the Iran war’s energy shock has not shifted long-run inflation expectations and still expects inflation to return to target within a year.

Equities:  

• US: S&P 500 rose 1% to 6,886.24, erasing all losses since the Iran war began, while the Nasdaq 100 extended gains to a ninth consecutive day, up 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.6% to 48,218.25. Technology and financials led sector gains, with Oracle surging nearly 13 percent as the top S&P 500 gainer after introducing AI-powered features. Microsoft contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.6% while KKR gained over 6%. Sandisk also gained 3.3% after Evercore ISI initiates Outperform with $1200 target, just after its Nasdaq 100 inclusion. American Airlines shares jumped 10% in postmarket trading following reports of preliminary deliberations with United Airlines
• EU: The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.2 percent to 613.88, with Deutsche Telekom contributing the most to the decline, decreasing 6.1 percent after JPMorgan cut its price target. The DAX fell 0.3 percent to 23,742.44 in Frankfurt, while the FTSE 100 dropped 0.2 percent to 10,582.96 in London. The Euro Stoxx 50 ended 0.36 percent lower at 5,905.02. Hungarian stocks rallied sharply, with the Hungarian BUX index finishing up 4.95 percent at 139,459.59 following a landslide victory by the Tisza Party in elections. Energy shares were among top performers, with Shell up more than 1 percent.
• Asia: Asian equity markets opened higher on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street gains and optimism over potential US-Iran deal progress. Japan's Topix rose 1% to 3,760.39 at the open, while Nikkei futures were up 2.0% at 57,665 on the SGX after the Nikkei fell 0.7% to 56,502.77 on Monday. South Korea's Kospi opened up 151.38 points at 5,960.00 after declining 0.9% to 5,808.62 on Monday, with Samsung Electronics falling 2.4%. The broader MSCI Asia-Pacific index jumped 0.8% at the open. Hong Kong markets showed strength, while Singapore's STI benefited from the central bank's policy tightening. Australian shares were poised to rise following overnight US gains.

Earnings this week:

• Tuesday: JPMorgan Chase, Johnson & Johnson 
• Wednesday: Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, CATL
• Thursday: Taiwan Semiconductor, Netflix, Moutai

FX: 

• The euro gained 0.30 percent to $1.1761, extending gains for a sixth straight session to reach its highest level since February 27, 2026.
• The dollar reversed gains to end lower on the day after President Trump said Iran reached out to his administration over peace negotiations.
•  The Japanese yen was the worst performing G10 currency against the dollar, with USDJPY gaining 0.10 percent to 159.45, rising for a third straight session and remaining pinned just below 160.
• The yuan reference rate was fixed at 6.8657 per USD, little changed from the previous trading day, with onshore yuan at 6.8333 as of 16:30 Hong Kong time.
• Franklin Templeton's Miles Sampson sees the euro weakening as traders are overestimating the number of ECB interest-rate increases, with the market pricing in about two hikes by the ECB through July.
• GBPUSD rose 0.3% to 1.3507, back to late-Feb pre-Iran conflict levels; 
•  The Norwegian krone led G-10 on oil gains
• USDCAD fell a fifth time in six days to 1.3791, below its 200-DMA at 1.3818; 
• AUD firmed as RBA’s Hauser warned on inflation

Commodities: 

• Brent crude rose 4.37 percent to settle at $99.36 per barrel, while WTI for May gained 2.6 percent to settle at $99.08, as the US blockade of Iranian ports threatened to tighten global markets further.
• Copper futures rose, with Comex copper settling 1.80 percent higher at $5.9760 per pound, reaching its highest settlement value since February 27, 2026, while LME 3-month copper closed $208 higher at $13,054 a ton.
• Gold fell 0.9 percent to around $4,745 a troy ounce as strength in the US dollar put pressure on the precious metal, while silver dropped 1.05 percent to $75.523 per troy ounce.

Fixed income:  

• Treasury yields declined as the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz raised more concerns about economic growth than inflation, with the 10-year yield falling 2.1 basis points to 4.299 percent.
• The 30-year Treasury yield declined 1.2 basis points to 4.900 percent, snapping a two-trading-day streak of rising yields.
• Goldman Sachs raised $6.5 billion from a US investment-grade bond sale, extending a borrowing spree that included a record debt offering earlier this year.

For a global look at markets – go to Inspiration.  

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