Oil Prices Choppy Amid Mixed Signals From U.S.-Iran Peace Talks — Update

By Ronnie Harui

Oil prices were choppy in Asia on Tuesday, amid mixed signals from talks between the U.S. and Iran on ending the conflict, while regional tech stocks were hammered by concerns over heavy spending in artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Vice President JD Vance said Monday that Iran had agreed to allow nuclear inspectors to return to the Middle Eastern country as early as this week. However, Tehran didn't acknowledge the Trump administration's move to give inspectors broader access to its sites.

"Even with a provisional peace deal and an assumption of a timely reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the infrastructure damage, low oil and gas inventories and the time it will take to re-establish global energy supply chains means we may need to prepare for at least several months of further energy shortages and price volatility," said Albert Chu, portfolio manager for Natural Resources at Man Group, in an email.

Crude oil futures swung between gains and losses. Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures fell 1.1% to $73.04 per barrel after earlier rising as much as 0.8%, ICE data showed. Front-month Brent crude oil futures dropped 1.3% to $76.92 per barrel after earlier advancing as much as 0.4%.

Asia's equity markets were mostly weaker amid renewed worries over technology companies' rapidly rising spending on AI.

There's "news that SpaceX was looking to borrow up to $20 billion through a bond sale," Swissquote's Ipek Ozkardeskaya said in an email.

"The fact that it is jumping on the bond train to fund excessive AI and infrastructure spending revives earlier concerns that Big Tech may be spending too much on AI infrastructure and increasingly financing that spending through debt," the senior analyst added.

South Korea's benchmark Kospi fell 8.1%, with bellwether Samsung Electronics dropping 8.8% and SK Hynix sliding 12%.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average declined 2.9%, dragged by tech-related shares such as Furukawa Electric, which shed 15%, and Kioxia Holdings, which dropped 14%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index declined 1.7% and China's Shanghai Composite was down 0.7%.

Write to Ronnie Harui at ronnie.harui@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 23, 2026 02:32 ET (06:32 GMT)