Asian shares mostly gain while European trading stays closed for a holiday

Trump threatened to hit Iran’s critical infrastructure hard if the country’s government doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his Tuesday deadline. But there was no sign Iran was easing its closure of the strait crucial to global oil supplies.

The market is keeping focused on oil prices.

Benchmark U.S. crude dropped $1.76 to $109.78 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 73 cents to $108.33 a barrel. Energy markets were closed Friday, but the prices have been surging lately on fears that the Iran war will drag on longer than expected.

The U.S. relies on the Persian Gulf for only a fraction of the oil it imports, but oil is a commodity and prices are set in a global market. Some nations, like resource-poor Japan, import a large portion of their energy needs and rely heavily on access to the Strait of Hormuz.

Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told lawmakers recently that Japan was releasing its reserves and was working on alternative routes. South Korea's trade ministry said it plans to send at least five ships to Saudi Arabi in the coming weeks to establish new oil transport routes in the Red Sea.

“As we kick off the first full trading week of April, the word uncertainty is paramount. Last year it was centered on the impact of ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs, this year it's uncertainty surrounding the ongoing Iranian War,” said Jay Woods, analyst at Freedom Capital Markets in New York.

U.S. markets were closed for Good Friday and will reopen Monday. Some markets in Europe also did not trade on Friday.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 159.39 Japanese yen Monday from 159.63. The euro cost $1.1555, up from $1.1517.

Associated Press writers Kim Tong-Hyung in Seoul and Matt Ott in Washington contributed to this report.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama