The price of crude saw a significant jump following a series of Iranian missile strikes on American bases in Iraq, which also sent US stocks plummeting as concerns of a wider regional war take hold.
The attack on Tuesday night drove the US oil benchmark, West Texas Intermediate crude, to gain some 3.4 percent, while Brent crude is up similarly, by over 3.5 percent.
The Dow Jones, meanwhile, took a hit, dropping by nearly 120 points, as the S&P 500 and NASDAQ also struggled, losing 9.1 and 2.8 points respectively.
The Asian stock market also reacted to the news, with Hong Kong’s main index, the Hang Seng, falling below 28,000 points and touching its lowest level since the end of last year, after losing 1.15 percent during the trading session. China’s Shanghai Composite faced almost similar losses, closing at 3,070.05 points. Meanwhile, the Nikkei 225 in Japan closed 1.57 percent lower.
