New York-listed tanker stocks appear to be among the winners from Iran’s launch of more than 100 missiles into Israel, even as the broader market indices turned down on news of the lunchtime attacks.
Investors sought to digest fast-moving information, as damage from the barrage seemed to be limited, and raised questions about whether Israel might temper its response rather than pursue escalation.
The broader market was regaining some of its losses at the time of writing as optimists appeared to weigh in.
On the shipping front, money poured into crude tanker stocks. VLCC owners Frontline, DHT Holdings and Teekay Tankers all gained between 2% and 3% in the immediate aftermath of the attacks.
Oil prices shot up and shares of the energy majors logged gains of 1% to 4%.
Response was more muted in clean products, but market giant Scorpio Tankers’ share rose by 0.6% and Hafnia was up by 0.9%.
Mixed-tonnage tanker owner International Seaways also climbed 0.9%.
The rapid gains did not carry over to the dry bulk sector, where Genco Shipping & Trading fell almost 2%, Golden Ocean Group 1.35% and bellwether Star Bulk Carriers 0.42%.
Israeli liner operator Zim fell almost 5%, essentially reversing its gains from Monday. But as with other container ship operators, the catalyst for its movements might have been more the impact of the US East Coast and US Gulf Coast ports strike rather than the Middle East warfare.
In the broader market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1% initially, hitting an intraday low of 41,945. But it was edging up towards a breakeven day in later afternoon trading.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq remained down more than 1% to 17,965.
