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April 10, 2026 – 07:58

(Bloomberg) — Asian stocks rose, extending their first weekly gain since the Middle East war began, with investors cautiously hopeful ahead of US-Iran talks this weekend. Oil was set for its biggest weekly loss in nine months.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.8% as President Donald Trump said he was “optimistic” about a deal with Iran, even as he threatened Tehran over charging fees in the Strait of Hormuz. Technology shares — seen as less exposed to the Iran war — outperformed.

US equity-index futures erased earlier losses to trade flat, while similar contracts pointed to gains for European shares. Helping sentiment, Brent pared earlier gains of as much as 1.2% to trade up 0.9% at $96.80 a barrel. The dollar, which emerged as a haven of choice during the six-week war, was set for its biggest weekly loss since January.

Traders are watching the shaky ceasefire and planned US-Iran talks in Islamabad starting Saturday for clues on the market’s next move. While Israel’s agreement to hold talks with Lebanon lifted sentiment, the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a crucial artery for crude oil flows — is keeping investors wary, with recent weeks marked by outsized moves at the start of Monday trading.

“The market is starting to price in some sort of agreement can be reached over the weekend,” said Hao Hong, chief investment officer at hedge fund Lotus Asset Management. “My quant model shows that the technical rebound should continue for a few more days at least. The market is starting to look beyond the war.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to hold talks with Lebanon as Trump said the Israeli leader is “going to low-key it” with strikes on the war-weary country, signaling some hope for de-escalation.

Trump has asked him to scale back strikes to ensure the success of negotiations with Iran, NBC News reported.

The US and Iran appeared to pause most strikes after fighting continued in the region on Wednesday after the ceasefire was announced on Tuesday evening. But on Thursday evening, the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry said fresh drone attacks were carried out by Iran and its proxies, which targeted a number of vital facilities in the country.

“The decline in market volatility, equities, bonds and currencies, is positive for Asian stocks and tech given their underperformance since the war began,” said Rajeev De Mello, global macro portfolio manager at Gama Asset Management SA. “I’m not trimming into the weekend, as the direction of travel seems to be to talk rather than to fight.”

Read Bloomberg Economics’ analysis on the impact of Iran war: Trillion Dollar War – Global Economic Outlook

What Bloomberg’s Strategists Say…

“Investors seem eager to look through concerns about the fragility of the US-Iran ceasefire as long as President Trump avoids signaling a re-escalation of the war. That also means the rebound in equities looks overdone because the focus on a potential end to the fighting overlooks the impact of the sustained supply shocks created by the war.”

– Garfield Reynolds, Markets Live Team Leader. For more on the analysis, click here.

Some investors aren’t convinced.

“Actually I m not very optimistic at all,” said Nick Ferres, chief investment officer of Vantage Point Asset Management in Singapore. “Even if it gets agreed on the weekend, odds are that oil remains supply constrained. That’s no longer reflected in equity risk premium.”

Elsewhere, gold edged lower to trade around $4,760 an ounce. Treasuries snapped a four-day gain as investors awaited US inflation data due Friday to see the impact of higher oil prices from the Iran war.

Economists project a 0.9% increase in the consumer price index, the sharpest one-month advance since 2022, according to a Bloomberg survey

“Headline risk pertaining to the war remains far and away the biggest driver of volatility,” Kyle Rodda, a senior financial market analyst at Capital.com, wrote in a note. “However, inflation data also presents meaningful event risk.”

Corporate Highlights:

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell summoned Wall Street leaders to an urgent meeting on concerns that the latest artificial intelligence model from Anthropic PBC will usher in an era of greater cyber risk. A $7 billion private credit fund managed by Carlyle Group Inc. capped redemptions after investors asked to pull 15.7% of the shares in the first quarter. Intel Corp. said Alphabet Inc.’s Google has committed to using future generations of its Xeon processors and other chips. Pacific Investment Management Co. is looking to sell a portion of the $14 billion of debt financing it’s providing for a massive Oracle Corp. data center in Michigan, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Chevron Corp. said its production fell as much as 6% in the first quarter due in part to the Iran war, echoing a similar disclosure from Exxon Mobil Corp. earlier this week. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. sold ¥272.3 billion ($1.7 billion) of yen-denominated bonds, marking its first such deal since Warren Buffett stepped down as chief executive officer. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported a 35% increase in quarterly revenue, suggesting global AI chip demand remained intact during the first weeks of war in the Middle East. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 6:50 a.m. London time Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.8% Japan’s Topix rose 0.1% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2% Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.7% The Shanghai Composite rose 0.7% Euro Stoxx 50 futures rose 0.6% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1% The euro was little changed at $1.1690 The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 159.24 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.8314 per dollar The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.3419 Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin fell 0.3% to $72,195.13 Ether fell 0.6% to $2,199.48 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.30% Japan’s 10-year yield advanced 3.5 basis points to 2.425% Australia’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 4.96% Commodities

Spot gold was little changed West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.8% to $98.64 a barrel This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Winnie Hsu and Abhishek Vishnoi.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.