A view of missile traces launched from Yemen at Israel sighted in the sky over Hebron, West Bank, on March 28, 2026.
Wisam Hashlamoun | Anadolu | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets whipsawed in volatile trading on Tuesday, as oil prices reversed course to fall after a report said that President Donald Trump was looking to avoid a prolonged conflict in the Middle East.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday evening stateside that Trump told aides he was willing to end the U.S. military hostilities against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remained largely closed.
The West Texas Intermediate futures for May delivery reversed gains, dropping 0.72% to $102.14 a barrel as of 10:31 p.m. ET. May futures for Brent crude also pulled back, declining 1% to $111.55 a barrel.
Trump and his aides assessed that an operation directed at reopening the critical chokepoint could prolong the conflict beyond the initial timeline for the war of up to six weeks, the WSJ said.
“Trump could be forced to wave the white flag to control gas prices and thereby inflation before midterms,” said Ben Emons, CIO at Fed Watch Advisors, highlighting that Trump’s “verbal signals” for ending the Iran war gained currency after Brent neared the $120 per barrel level.
The war has increasingly become an “asymmetric” game, Emons said, as the U.S. leans toward ending the war while Iran continues to impose costs. “This is a moment to consider rotating out of the war portfolio and into a rebound portfolio,” he said.
Trump had earlier threatened to expand attacks to Iran’s civilian energy infrastructure, including water desalination plants, if Tehran failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Shipping traffic through the Hormuz waterway, through which a fifth of the global seaborne oil used to transit before the conflict, has virtually ground to a halt since U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.
South Korea’s blue-chip Kospi dropped 2.2% while the small-cap Kosdaq lost 1.9%. The Korean won depreciated 0.67% to 1,537.4 against the U.S. dollar, hovering near its weakest level since 2009.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.13%, while the broad-based Topix reversed earlier losses to trade 0.18% higher.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also turned positive, rising 0.9%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index dipped 0.3%, while the mainland Chinese CSI 300 was little changed.