Oil climbs after Trump's Tehran warning, Sasol now up 80% since April
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Oil prices jumped on Tuesday after US president Donald Trump call for Tehran residents to evacuate.
Brent crude rose more than 1% to $74.15 a barrel. A month ago, it was trading close to $60.
The synthetic fuels group Sasol's share price continued its surge from Friday. By late morning on Tuesday, it was trading at R99.43. It was trading at R87 on Thursday, before Israel's attacks on its regional foes. Its shares have now gained 80% since it reached its lowest level since the pandemic in April.
Sasol has been grappling with the fallout of a disastrous US chemicals project, which resulted in a huge debt burden.
After Friday's surge sparked by the attacks, crude ticked more than one percent lower Monday as traders bet that the conflict would not spread throughout the Middle East and key oil sites were mostly left untouched.
Prices bounced back Tuesday after Trump called for the evacuation of the Iranian capital, which is home to nearly 10 million people.
"Iran should have signed the 'deal' I told them to sign," he said on social media, referring to nuclear talks that were taking place.
"What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!"
Trump later poured cold water on remarks from French President Emmanuel Macron that he was leaving the G7 summit in Canada to discuss a possible ceasefire.
Gains were tempered after the International Energy Agency said in its 2025 report that global demand would fall slightly in 2030 for the first time since the start of the Covid pandemic in 2020.
It cited "below-trend economic growth, weighed down by global trade tensions and fiscal imbalances, and the accelerating substitution away from oil in the transport and power generation sectors".
Traders are keeping a wary eye on developments in the Iran crisis, with the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz leaving Southeast Asia on Monday after cancelling a Vietnam visit as the Pentagon announced it was sending "additional capabilities" to the Middle East.
Trump has maintained that Washington has "nothing to do" with Israel's campaign, but Iran's foreign minister said Monday the US leader could halt the attacks with "one phone call".
Tehran has said it would hit US sites if Washington got involved.
Meanwhile, Britain, France and Germany called on Iran to quickly return to the negotiating table over its nuclear programme, a French diplomatic source said.
The US president had earlier said Iran wanted to make a deal, adding "as soon as I leave here, we're going to be doing something".
He later left the gathering in the Rockies, telling reporters: "I have to be back as soon as I can. I wish I could stay for tomorrow, but they understand, this is big stuff."
Tehran had signalled a desire to de-escalate and resume nuclear talks with Washington as long as the United States did not join the conflict, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Rand recovers
After briefly breaking through R18/$ on Friday, the rand strengthened to R17.8177 by mid-morning on Tuesday. The rand has lost half a percent of its value against the dollar over the past week.
Equities were mixed in Asian trade, with Tokyo, Singapore, Seoul, Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta and Taipei all advancing, while Hong Kong, Sydney, Wellington and Mumbai struggled along with London, Paris and Frankfurt.
The JSE's All-Share index was 0.3% lower, with Harmony (-3.9%), AngloGold (-3.4%) and Gold Fields (-3%) among the biggest losers.
Dealers also kept tabs on the G7 summit, where world leaders pushed back against Trump's trade war, arguing it posed a risk to global economic stability.
Britain, Canada, Italy, Japan, Germany and France called on the president to reverse course on his plans to impose even steeper tariffs on countries across the globe next month.
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