Shein shares decline in Hong Kong trading debut
Oil prices rose for a second consecutive session Tuesday, extending the move that followed the United States strike on an Iranian island over the weekend. According to the Associated Press, the U.S. struck rocket launchers on the island on Sunday, saying the launchers were preparing to deploy mines into the Strait of Hormuz. Iran responded by launching missiles at U.S. sites in Jordan; all of the missiles were intercepted, the AP reported.
The exchange ended a stretch of more than a month with no significant fighting in the conflict. The return of direct U.S.-Iran hostilities reintroduced uncertainty over the trajectory of the war, the AP said, and reintroduced the geopolitical risk premium that had begun to erode from crude prices as traders removed some of the war premium in recent weeks.
The Strait of Hormuz once accounted for about 20% of global oil shipments, the wire service noted. Traffic through the waterway has been curtailed since the war began, and oil prices have remained high after the initial surge earlier in the conflict. The AP reported that the persistence of elevated prices has fed through to broader costs, making gasoline and shipped goods more expensive.
Separately, shares of Shein, the online fast-fashion retailer, fell as much as 10% after they began trading in Hong Kong on Tuesday, their first day of trading in the city. By midday, the shares were 5% lower.
Mixed trading across Asian markets came amid renewed uncertainty over the future of the Iran conflict, the AP reported.
The Tuesday market move followed Monday’s 2.7% surge in Brent crude after the U.S. struck Iranian rocket launchers near the Strait of Hormuz, as MSI reported. The current fighting extends a broader pattern of Iranian missile strikes in the waterway and stalled diplomacy since early August, as previously covered.