James Gruber

Energy shares gained 1.6% as crude prices surged.

British majors BP and Shell and France's Total Energies gained between 1.8% and 2.9%.

On the flip side, the travel and leisure sector led declines with a 2.4% fall, bearing the brunt of higher energy costs and rising geopolitical tensions.

Airline stocks including EasyJet, Lufthansa, Ryanair and IAG slid between 2.2% and 3.1%.

Aerospace and Defence shares also weighed on the index, with Rolls-Royce and Safran down 3.7% and 3.9% respectively.

It's now time for the watch list.

In Australia, ASX companies making dividend payments today include Hub24 and iShares Core S&P ASX 200 ETF.

In the US, first quarter earnings season is ramping up with United Airlines, 3M, GE Aerospace, United Health Group and Intuitive Surgical reporting today.

In economic data, retail sales and pending home sales for March will be released.

And now it's time for our One More Thing segment.

The Iran war has not only destroyed lives, it's also left a deep mark on infrastructure in the Middle East.

The value of oil and gas infrastructure destroyed in the Gulf since the war started now stands at US$25 billion, or US$35 billion in Australian dollar terms, according to The Economist magazine.

That number may rise given the strikes in recent days.

Even if the war ends soon, its impact will be long-lasting if these figures are any gauge.

And that's it for today.

The ComSec Media and Markets team is monitoring developments on today's local trading session, so check out our afternoon episode of the podcast for all the key updates.

I'm James Gruber.

Have a great day.

We emerge from another weekend with no certainty on the US-Iran war.

So it could be a rocky start to the week for markets.