India Fuel Prices Hold; Iran Strikes Lift Brent Near $83

Iran launched a fresh wave of attacks on Thursday night at "hostile targets" in the Persian Gulf at the entrance to the strait. Tehran's semi-official Fars News Agency reported explosions near Qeshm Island. Under a proposed Iran-Oman agreement, Tehran intends to demand compensation from hostile countries to use the waterway and to bar US and Israeli ships from it.

The escalation comes as both sides signal an accord may be close. President Donald Trump said Thursday that negotiations were "going fine" and that he was involved, telling reporters the war will end "pretty soon" and that the US is in control of the strait.

Gold traded near $4,240 an ounce after the strikes. Iran-backed Houthi forces, who opened a new front in the war, claimed a "large-scale" attack against Yemen's Saudi-backed government troops.

Separately, India's commerce and industry ministry rejected reports of ethanol imports from the US, saying the fuel blending programme is governed solely by domestic policy requirements. "No concessions or commitments relating to the import of ethanol for fuel blending from the US have been made in the India-US trade discussions," the ministry said. "Any suggestion of a policy change to permit large-scale imports of fuel ethanol from the US is misleading."