TOKYO: Brent crude oil, the global market benchmark, dropped close to six percent Wednesday after US president Donald Trump sent a peace plan to Iran.
At around 0030 GMT, a barrel of Brent crude was down 5.92% at US$98.30. Benchmark US oil contract, West Texas Intermediate, was down 5.01% at US$87.72.
In Asia markets, Japan’s Nikkei index and South Korea’s Kospi were up by more than three percent.
Trump sent a peace plan to Iran as he voiced optimism Tuesday at ending nearly a month of a war, with Tehran announcing that it will let “non-hostile” oil vessels go through the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
The tentative signs of a diplomatic solution came despite new violence, with an Iranian missile causing injuries in Israel which in turn pressed on multiple fronts and vowed to seize control of a strip of southern Lebanon.
The fall in oil Wednesday came after prices jumped a day earlier, with traders turned cautious over the prospect of a negotiated agreement to end the war.
