Oil rose to its highest level since late 2014 in Asia-Pacific trading amid rising tension between the US and Iran. Meanwhile, global stocks are firming in the wake of Friday’s US jobs report that reassured markets on the risks of faster rate rises by the Federal Reserve. News that Nestlé is paying $7.15bn for the rights to market products of Starbucks has also buoyed sentiment in European trading. The move came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned on Sunday that US President Donald Trump would be making a “historic” mistake if the US were to withdraw from its 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
Mr Trump has threatened to abandon the deal, under which Iran shut down its nuclear activities. US sanctions waivers expire on May 12. Brent crude, which has also benefited from a lift in US demand and Opec supply cuts this year, was rising 0.8 percent to $75.47 a barrel after earlier reaching $75.89, its highest level since November 2014. US marker West Texas Intermediate gained 0.9 percent to $70.32 a barrel on Monday, also its highest since late 2014. Energy stocks were also higher. Chinese oil company Cnooc was up 3.4 percent in Hong Kong, at its highest since 2015. The energy segment added 1.3 percent in Japan and in Sydney the S&P/ASX 200 Energy index was up 0.8 percent.