South Korea’s Kospi tops 7,000 to hit a new high as Asia markets rise on Mideast de-escalation signals – CNBC

South Korea’s Kospi hit another record Wednesday as Asia-Pacific markets saw a broad rally, tracking Wall Street gains overnight after oil prices dropped and strong earnings lifted investor sentiment.

Signaling diplomatic efforts for resolving the Middle East crisis were on track, President Donald Trump said the U.S. bid to guide ships out of Strait of Hormuz had been paused.

“We have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed,” Trump said in his Truth Social post.

The U.S. military on Monday began guiding commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz under Project Freedom. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday said that “two U.S. commercial ships, along with American destroyers, have already safely transited the strait, showing the lane is clear.”

West Texas Intermediate futures for June were 1.51% lower at $100.73 per barrel as of 3:14 a.m. ET. Brent crude futures for July declined 1.48% to $108.23 per barrel.

South Korea’s Kospi advanced 6.45% to close at a record 7,384.56, building on its more than 70% annual gains as of last close, after markets resumed trading following a holiday. Index heavyweight Samsung Electronics reached a record high, rising over 14% to cross $1 trillion in market-cap.

The small-cap Kosdaq index slipped 0.29% to 1,210.17.

China’s CSI 300 added 1.45% to 4,877.09 as it resumed trading after Labor Day break. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was up 1%, as of its last hour of trade.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3% to close at 8,793.6. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.11% as of 3:50 a.m. ET.

Japan stock market was closed due to a holiday. The yen had strengthened more than 1% against the greenback to156.15 earlier in the day.

S&P 500 futures added 0.2%, while Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.6%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 30 points, or less than 0.1%.

During Tuesday’s regular session, the S&P 500 rose 0.81%, hitting a new all-time high and closing at a record of 7,259.22. The Nasdaq Composite gained 1.03%, touching a new high and notching a closing record of 25,326.13. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 356.35 points, or 0.73%, to end at 49,298.25.

— CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.