US Sparks Asia Oil Rush

With a quiet night on Wall Street and with Europe returning to work this afternoon, the Asian market adopts a wait-and-see approach and are generally lower. Oil prices continued its rally following the shock ending of Iran oil waiver programme by the US government which was over and above the OPEC and co.'s curb in supply.

The US may be playing with geopolitical fire here, with Iran threatening to close the Straits of Hormuz. It will be interesting to see if this development affects the current US trade negotiations with China and Japan, who along with India, are the large importers of Iranian crude under the waiver scheme and will now be scrambling to find alternative supplies.

Earnings season ramps up in the US with bellwether industrial and tech names reporting this week in what is set to be the busiest earnings week this season. Boeing will report earnings on Wednesday for the first time since its deadly plane crash, which plunged the company into crisis-mode. Our markets are expected to see a muted opening and will keenly watch out crude oil prices which will have a bearing on the rupee and stocks.