
The oil market erupted as West Texas Intermediate surged past $100, briefly reaching $111 after a 36% weekly rally. The surge was triggered by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, forcing Gulf producers to curtail output and causing storage bottlenecks. The price spike adds roughly 0.7 percentage points to global inflation and a 0.4‑point drag on growth, prompting equity futures to tumble and risk‑off sentiment to dominate. Central banks now face a de‑facto rate‑tightening pressure from energy‑driven liquidity constraints.

Korea’s KOSPI slumped over 7% on its first post‑holiday session as oil prices spiked amid heightened Hormuz risk. Roughly 70% of Korean crude comes from the Middle East, linking oil shocks directly to trade balances, inflation and currency pressure. The...