Oil jumped 2% in Asia after Iran hit a tanker in Hormuz, widening the US-Iran war. Safe-haven dollar gained. South Korea targets won convertibility. Singapore MAS policy date July 27.
Alpha Score of 42 reflects weak overall profile with weak momentum, poor value, weak quality, weak sentiment.
Oil futures jumped about 2% in Asian trading on Monday after Iran struck an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz off the UAE coast, the latest escalation in a conflict that had edged closer to all-out war over the weekend. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency confirmed the vessel was on fire. The US dollar also gained as safe-haven demand built, a classic pattern in forex market analysis.
The escalation began with confirmation of additional American troop deaths and an unnamed US official's acknowledgment that Washington is planning for a wider war. The Pentagon is said to be increasing the number of military aircraft in the region. Air raid sirens sounded across Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait and Iraq after Iran launched a fresh wave of ballistic missiles and one-way attack drones. CENTCOM said its forces carried out strikes on Iran for a ninth consecutive night, and the US Army launched at least two ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles from Kuwait toward Iranian targets.
Explosions were reported in western Iranian cities including Tabriz and Khorramabad, both previously untouched through earlier rounds of fighting. Tasnim reported explosions near the Mahshahr and Imam Khomeini ports in the southwest. Iranian air defence systems were activated in Konarak, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, pointing to a wave of strikes spread across a wide geographic arc. Tabriz, the capital of East Azerbaijan province and home to an older missile base, was struck for the first time since the ceasefire memorandum collapsed.
Iranian media reported the strike on the oil tanker with anti-ship cruise missiles. This follows Iran's earlier claim to have mined and destroyed two tankers attempting the strait's southern route over the weekend. The Strait of Hormuz handles roughly a fifth of global oil trade, making the threat to shipping a direct risk to supply. CENTCOM confirmed it had completed its ninth consecutive night of strikes, targeting Iranian command centres, air defence sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communications networks.
Away from the Middle East, Moonshot AI's Kimi K3 became a story in its own right. The Chinese lab paused new subscriptions to its model just days after launch after demand pushed against the limits of its available GPU capacity. Existing members retain full access, with new slots set to reopen in batches as compute comes online. The company plans to split its membership structure into separate general and coding tiers to better manage load. The episode has fed into broader market unease over AI moats and infrastructure spending, contributing to volatility across chip and memory names in recent sessions.
China's CSRC will meet market participants on Monday to discuss stability after a rout wiped 10 trillion yuan off market value, as state-backed investors bought shares to stem the slide. Shares in China firmed.
South Korea's finance ministry unveiled a road map aimed at making the won a freely convertible currency, targeting the build-out of offshore trading and settlement systems and the removal of regulatory barriers that have historically restricted foreign access to the currency. The Kospi sold off heavily again on Monday.
Singapore's Monetary Authority confirmed its next monetary policy statement will land on July 27, giving markets a fixed date to watch. The UK Maritime Trade Operations agency confirmed the tanker was on fire. No further details on crew or cargo were immediately available.
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