Oil gains as Iran deal proves elusive
Published Mon, Aug 10, 2026 · 09:16 AM
OIL extended its gains in early Monday (Aug 10) trading as Iran rejected talks with the US and a deal to reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz remained elusive.
Global benchmark Brent crude rose 0.8 per cent to trade above US$84 a barrel after rising more than 5 per cent over the previous three sessions.
The dollar, the haven of choice during the Middle East conflict, was steady against most of its Group-of-10 peers.
Early attention in Asia is also on the yen, which traded slightly weaker at around 157.90 per US dollar. The Japanese currency strengthened sharply on Friday after labour data was released.
Asian stocks rose on Monday after soft US jobs data sent Wall Street gauges higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 Index closing at a record high.
Iran and Oman failed to reach a final deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend after Teheran renewed a long list of demands to Washington, suggesting any near-term relief for oil and gas supplies may be limited.
US consumer price data due this week will also be in focus after Friday’s soft jobs report reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve won’t need to raise interest rates soon.
“A much weaker than expected non-farm payrolls release painted a grim picture of the US labour market,” Kyle Rodda, a senior analyst at Capital.com, wrote in a note to clients. “But market participants treated the data as a ‘bad news is good news’ situation.”
Employers unexpectedly cut jobs in July and hiring in the prior two months was revised lower, suggesting the labour market is weaker than previously thought.
Traders trimmed the chance of a rate hike at the Fed’s September meeting to a roughly 43 per cent chance, down from 64 per cent a week ago, according to swaps data compiled by Bloomberg.
Asian currencies may also gain after US bond yields fell and the dollar slid to a two-month low. Treasuries rallied on Friday, with two-year yields, the most sensitive to Fed policy expectations, dropping as much as nine basis points after the jobs report before ending about five basis points lower at 4.19 per cent. That marked their biggest weekly decline since May.
There’s “a positive backdrop for Asia-Pacific with a softer US dollar, lower crude oil prices and the broad recovery of equity sentiment,” Wee Khoon Chong, a strategist at BNY in Hong Kong, wrote in a note to clients.
Back to geopolitics, President Donald Trump on Sunday signalled patience, in an interview with Axios, saying the US could wait for Teheran’s economic suffering to soften its stance. The comments followed weeks of Trump threatening massive airstrikes on Iran only to pull back, saying he wanted to give negotiations a chance.
Investors can’t be too bearish given Trump is likely to back away from his threats again, particularly as his approval ratings have fallen to fresh lows, My Bui, an economist at AMP, wrote in a note to clients.
“So for now, it remains business as usual, with shares still supported by solid fundamentals, strong economic growth and rising productivity,” she added. BLOOMBERG
