Oil Prices Rise as Iran and U.S. Exchange Strikes

Oil prices rose on Wednesday as hostilities in the Middle East flared, with a strike on Kuwait’s main international airport, as well as broader attacks between the United States and Iran.Stocks wavered, rising across much of Asia but declining in Europe and the United States.The moves extended days of volatile trading in response to the ebb and flow of peace negotiations between Iran, the United States and Israel.Energy markets have been on a hair trigger with the war in Iran dragging into a third month.

Both the United States and Iran have continued to trade attacks while saying that a cease-fire is holding.The countries say that negotiations over a framework to settle the conflict are continuing.Oil prices rise.The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, rose 1.9 percent to $97.81 a barrel, easing from its earlier high for the day.West Texas Intermediate crude, the U.S.

benchmark, was 2.4 percent higher to around $96.02 a barrel, also easing from a sharper move higher earlier in the day.Investors and analysts are focused on the continued disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that is a vital trading route for oil and natural gas that normally carries as much as one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.Stocks waver.The S&P 500 fell 0.7 percent on Wednesday, ending a run of nine daily gains in a row.Stocks in Asia were mixed.The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 2.5 percent and the Taiex index in Taiwan went up 2 percent, while the Hang Seng stock index fell 1.6 percent.In Europe, stocks were down.

The Stoxx 600, a broad-index that tracks the region’s largest companies, fell 0.7 percent.Stocks in Germany dropped 1.3 percent.Gasoline prices dip.Gas prices dropped on Wednesday to a national average of $4.26 a gallon, according to the AAA motor club.

Still, prices have risen 43 percent since the war began.Gas prices don’t move in lock step with crude, usually trailing increases or drops by a few days.The ...