MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2%

Stocks wobbled between gains and losses and ​oil hit a one-month high in Asian trading on Tuesday after the U.S. president said Washington was reinstating its blockade of Iranian shipping and ‌would collect a 20% fee on cargo traversing the Strait of Hormuz.

Following a volatile session, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2%, as a rebound for South Korean shares offset declines in Taiwan.

Chinese stocks led the rally, with the CSI 300 up 2% after export and import data for June released on ​Tuesday surpassed economists’ expectations.

China’s exports and imports surged to the highest levels since the pandemic-skewed 2021, as the tech boom supports growth on ​both fronts, ING analysts wrote in a research note. Exports have been one of China’s primary growth engines in recent years, and ⁠this year’s acceleration continues to beat expectations.

Brent crude futures jumped 2.6% to $85.49 a barrel, after earlier hitting their highest since mid-June at $85.64.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei ⁠225 gained 0.8% after Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said Japan may consider adjusting the strategy of the giant Government Pension Investment Fund if the investment environment changed sharply. However, she gave few further details.

In related news, markets were also impacted by hawkish ​comments on Monday from U.S. central bank Governor Christopher Waller, who said the bank may need to raise interest rates “in the near term” if data shows ​inflation continuing well above the 2% target.

While the risk had been building in the system over the past week, markets reacted aggressively to the latest headlines from the Iran conflict, said Chris ​Weston, head of research at Pepperstone in Melbourne.

He said: The prospect of tighter monetary policy into a potential energy shock is rarely supportive for risk assets.