Oil prices jumped on Wednesday after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, heightening tensions in the Middle East, but prices remained under pressure from concerns about weak demand in China. The Israeli shekel also fell to a one-month low.
Trading prices
Brent crude rose 2.28% to $80.42 a barrel at the nearest futures contract delivery time, while West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.53% to $76.62.
Both Brent and WTI fell about 1.4% yesterday, closing at their lowest levels in 7 weeks.
Hamas said that Haniyeh was martyred in a Zionist assassination operation that targeted his residence in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
This came a day after the Israeli government claimed to have killed Hezbollah’s top commander in an air strike on Beirut on Tuesday in response to a cross-border rocket attack on Israel on Saturday.
The latest attack came despite diplomatic efforts by US and UN officials to avoid a major escalation that could widen the conflict in the Middle East.
Separately, the United States carried out a strike in Iraq on Tuesday as tensions escalated in the region.
However, Brent and WTI are on track to post their biggest monthly losses in July since 2023.
Reuters also quoted a note by IG analyst Tony Sycamore as saying that oil prices fell due to ongoing concerns about the outlook for demand in China, continued optimism about a ceasefire in Gaza and the exclusion of OPEC Plus from its current plan to start easing cuts as of October, when it meets this week.
Oil markets are being affected by slowing fuel demand in China, the world’s largest importer of crude oil and the biggest contributor to global demand growth.
The shekel is falling
In the context of the effects of Haniyeh’s assassination, the Israeli shekel exchange rate fell in early trading today, Wednesday, to its lowest level in a month; to 3.77 against the US dollar.
The Israeli occupation army refused to make a statement regarding the assassination of Haniyeh, saying, “We do not comment on these reports.”
In early trading on Wednesday, the shekel fell to 3.77 to the dollar, down from 3.75 shekels at the close of Tuesday’s session, according to data from the Bank of Israel and global exchange rate platforms.
The exchange rates recorded in early trading today are the lowest since the end of last June.
The recorded decline is an extension of another decline witnessed by the Israeli currency at the beginning of weekly trading last Monday, after Israel announced that a missile fell on a stadium in Majdal Shams in the occupied Syrian Golan, killing 12 people, and accused Hezbollah of being responsible for it, while the party denied it.
On Friday, the shekel closed the session at 3.65 to the dollar, before reaching 3.75 shekels to the dollar in the first trading session after the Majdal Shams incident.
