Asia markets mixed, Oil surge

Asian markets remain with mixed moods this morning, while trading centers in Australia and Hong Kong are closed for Easter holidays.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan is unchanged, with Fast Retailing, Softbank Group and Fanuc declining slightly.

In South Korea, Kospi is green, with Samsung Electronics 0.4% on profitable territory.

Colombo Stock Exchange in Sri Lanka remained closed after terrorist attacks that killed at least 200 people, injuring more than 500.

"In the specific case of Sri Lanka, their contribution to the Asian market is still quite small in terms of their impact, so we do not expect a very long and lasting impact, but it will surely be quite large for their own economy," said Corrine Png , regional head of equity research at AIA Investment Management.

"Even before the attacks, we witnessed a slowdown in tourism growth from 10% last year to around 4% in the first quarter of this year because of political uncertainty," Png said.

Shares in the US ended last week on green with better-than-expected retail and corporate revenue.

Oil jumped in the morning hours of trading, with Brent crude futures adding 1.75% to $ 73.25 a barrel.

These movements were triggered by the Washington Post report that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will announce later today that the State Department will cease to grant sanction waivers to countries importing crude oil from Iran on 2 May.

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