The US-Israeli war on Iran has unleashed sharp swings across global energy and financial markets, fuelling demand for safe-haven assets, with Hong Kong emerging as a potential beneficiary across gold, property and capital markets. In the first of a three-part series, we examine Hong Kong’s bid to position itself as Asia’s bullion hub. War in…
Hong Kong’s investments in the Middle East will not be derailed by ongoing conflicts, the commerce minister has said, expressing confidence in the region’s economic prospects and urging businesses to take a long-term view. “The geopolitical situation has a temporary impact, but in the long term, we remain hopeful about development in the Middle East,”…
DUBAI, April 17 (Reuters) – Significant differences between Iran and the United States remain to reach a deal aimed at ending the war, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday, adding that keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is “conditional on U.S. adherence to the terms of ceasefire”. The official, who spoke on condition…
April 17 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Friday for joint efforts for an effective mission to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and said Kyiv’s wartime experience in the Black Sea could help. “Decisions made regarding Hormuz now will determine how other aggressive actors perceive the possibility of creating…
WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) – The U.S. is urging G20 members and the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to take coordinated action to ensure fertilizer access amid disruptions in food trade supply chains caused by the war in the Middle East, two sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott…
Cathay Group also said on Friday that it aimed to restore all flights after June. The company earlier announced it was cutting the number of Cathay Pacific flights by 2 per cent and HK Express services by 6 per cent between mid-May and the end of June. The group attributed the passenger growth to a…
One of the biggest if arguably predictable consequences of the US-Israel war with Iran has been Tehran’s move to block commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Given the huge amount of oil and gas that transits the narrow waterway, the threat long has been a key reason why direct military confrontation with the Islamic…
PARIS, April 17 (Reuters) – France and Britain will chair a meeting on Friday of around 40 countries aimed at signalling to the United States that some of its closest allies are ready to play a role in restoring freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz once conditions allow. Iran has largely closed the…
WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko left the United States on Thursday buoyed by what she called positive talks with top U.S. officials, including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, saying she found him to be supportive of her war-torn country. Svyrydenko told Reuters that she used the meeting with Bessent to hammer…
Washington — Days after the U.S.-Israel led war with Iran kicked off last month, American intelligence agencies detected signs that the war risked widening beyond the immediate battlefield as Russia and China sought to support Iran to blunt U.S.-Israeli military operations. Analysts at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s arm for military intelligence, assessed that…