The main US stock market indices opened in the green as oil prices slumped and media reports renewed hopes of normalisation of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The S&P 500 opened 0.10% higher at 7,526.82, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite opened 0.11% higher at 26,685.22, and Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.24% to 50,582.45. Brent Crude declined sharply to trade around $94 per barrel levels, while West Texas Intermediate slipped below $90 per barrel.
As of 10:15 a.m., the benchmark indices S&P 500 and Nasdaq traded little changed while Dow was up 0.6% or over 300 points to 50,775.
Iran has committed to restore the number of ship transits through the Strait of Hormuz to pre-war levels within one month if the United States removes their naval blockade and withdraws military forces from the country's vicinity, Iran's State TV reported while citing the initial unofficial framework of the Memorandum of Understanding with the United States.
Shares of Micron Technology Inc. continued their historic rally to open 6% higher at $955. However, other major chip stocks did not follow suit and traded in the red.
Nvidia Corp. was down over 2% to $210.62, Intel Corp. traded nearly 4% lower at $118.93, Advanced Micro Devices slumped 1.7% to $495.71
“The AI-driven narrative continued to outweigh the conflicting US-Iran headlines, with the market remaining hopeful of a resolution sooner rather than later,” Craig Johnson at Piper Sandler told Bloomberg News.
After the market opened, the sectoral indices were split with five trading in the green, five trading in the red, and one trading flat. Gains were led by consumer discretionary, consumer staples, and healthcare sectors; whereas energy, financial, and utilities led the decline.
The currencies front remained muted as the Dollar Spot Index was little changed, euro was little changed at $1.1640, British pound was little changed at $1.3443 and the Japanese yen was little changed at 159.42 per dollar.
Bitcoin, the largest traded cryptocurrency, fell 1.3% to $74,984.49.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
