Stocks markets surge as Trump calls off strikes on Iran, touts peace deal

Wall Street and Asian markets rally on hopes for an end to the US-Israel war on Iran.Stock markets have surged following US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he called off planned strikes against Iran and a peace deal with Tehran is imminent.Wall Street’s benchmark S&P500 index finished nearly 1.8 percent higher on Thursday, ending a three-day streak of losses for the biggest single-day gain since April.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4US lawmakers press Israel to let cancer patients out of Gaza for treatmentlist 2 of 4Musk’s $1.8 trillion SpaceX IPO could be ‘highly undesirable’ for somelist 3 of 4Trump says US and Iran have reached a ‘great settlement’list 4 of 4Who are Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez, Mexico’s World Cup goal scorers?end of listThe tech-focused Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.5 percent, while the older, blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average gained about 1.9 percent.The rally continued in the Asia Pacific on Friday, with markets in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Australia racking up gains.South Korea’s Kospi, the best-performing major index this year, surged more than 8 percent in morning trading, while Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rose as much as 4 percent.Taiwan’s TAIEX gained about 2.4 percent, and Australia’s ASX 200 rose about 1.8 percent.In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index was up more than 1 percent.Brent crude, the primary international benchmark for oil prices, fell about 1 percent to below $89.50 a barrel on hopes for a return to normality in the Strait of Hormuz, which in peacetime carries about one-fifth of global energy supplies.The market rebound came after Trump on Thursday suggested that a deal to end the war on Iran could be signed as soon as this weekend.“We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran… subject to finalisation of documents,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House.Iran has not publicly confirmed Trump’s claims, but a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman told reporters a memorandum of understanding with the US is “under consideration”.