James Gruber

Good morning, I'm James Gruber.

And I'm Gillian Bowen.

It's Monday the 20th of April and this is the morning edition of the ComSec Market Update.

A reminder too that a second ceasefire is also in effect, the one between Lebanon and Israel.

And when markets were last opened, so Friday US time, investors were reacting to reports that the Strait of Hormuz was open for passage while that ceasefire was in place and also on hopes of a US-Iran peace deal.

So oil prices plunged, Wall Street indices scaled record highs and US treasuries surged.

but any suggestion of transit through the key maritime route didn't last long.

Gil, let's take a look at commodities.

And oil again was the big story.

Global oil prices plunged on Friday after the Strait of Hormuz was temporarily declared opened before it closed again on the weekend.

Brent crude futures settled down 9.1% to 90.3%.

US dollars a barrel, while NYMEX crude was 11.4% lower to 83.85 US dollars a barrel.

Obviously, given the weekend's events, oil prices may quickly reverse today.

Base metal prices were mixed on Friday.

Copper futures climbed 0.6% on Peace Deal Optimism,

but aluminium futures were down 1.4% on easing supply concerns.

Gold futures extended gains on Friday, supported by a weaker dollar.

The futures settled up 1.5% to US$4,879 an ounce.

Meanwhile, iron ore futures were little changed, down 0.2% to US$106.85.

So the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each rallied to their third record close in a row on Friday, while the Dow marked its highest finish since late February, as investors cheered Iran's decision to open the Strait of Hormuz.