Asia Market Wrap 25 September: Tokyo Rallies as Iran Offers to Reopen Hormuz Within Seven Days
Tokyo carried a board thinned to four open markets on Friday. The Nikkei 225 closed 1.30 percent higher at 66,364.20, per the network’s written closing line, with the Topix up 1.31 percent at 4,128.59, while Sydney slipped 0.43 percent and Hong Kong closed 1.01 percent lower on our capture, and Singapore’s Straits Times added 0.48 percent. Mainland China and South Korea carried no session, closed for a holiday per the network, and Taipei sat out the Mid Autumn Festival on the exchange’s own calendar; Mumbai’s session was still running at our 09:22 GMT capture and carries no row tonight. Underneath the equities, the barrel gave back part of its war premium: Brent traded 1.67 percent below Thursday’s written settlement at 104.82 dollars a barrel at our capture, and in the same session Iran’s foreign minister offered to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if his conditions are met, per the network.
Tokyo rallies into the holiday gap as the yen firms
The session’s leadership was unusually concentrated. With Shanghai, Shenzhen, Seoul and Taipei all shut, Tokyo did the region’s heavy lifting and did it higher: the Nikkei’s 1.30 percent close at 66,364.20 matches the network’s written closing figure exactly, the broader Topix kept pace at 1.31 percent, and the yen firmed 0.57 percent to 157.92 per dollar at our capture, the region’s rates channel breathing out a day after Japan’s 10 year yield printed a thirty year high in our record. In single names, Oracle Corp Japan surged more than 7 percent after reporting record fiscal first quarter sales and profits, net sales up 13 percent from a year earlier to 74.86 billion yen with operating profit up 22.7 percent, all profit items record highs for a fiscal first quarter by the company’s own statement, per the network, a rally that stood against the more than 3 percent overnight fall in the United States parent on its force majeure notice. Hong Kong told the softer story: the Hang Seng opened 1.46 percent lower with financials, basic materials and technology leading the declines per the network’s open entry, and finished 1.01 percent lower at 24,510.09 on our close stamp, while Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.43 percent to 8,665.00, the entry’s own figure, and Singapore closed 0.48 percent higher. Seoul stays shut through Friday and returns Monday 28 September on the exchange calendar as recorded, and Taipei’s own schedule adds Teacher’s Day on Monday, putting Taiwan’s return at Tuesday 29 September.
A seven day offer for the strait and a barrel that backs off
Iran’s diplomatic track put a timetable on the table. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, per state media as carried by the network, that “If certain conditions are met, the Strait of Hormuz will be open at the end of seven days, and talks will be restarted”, adding that the conditions are “nothing new, nothing more than what was already in the Islamabad MOU, which was signed by the U.S. President”, a reference to the June ceasefire agreement that collapsed in early July, terms the administration has previously said it will not return to, per the network. At our capture Brent traded 1.67 percent below Thursday’s written settlement at 104.82 dollars with WTI 2.28 percent lower at 92.45 on the November contract, the network’s own report putting Friday morning’s prints at 106.22 and 93.61, while vessel transits through the strait, normally the route for about a fifth of global oil supply, fell to 9, far below peacetime levels, per Reuters preliminary ship tracking data as carried. The missile tape ran on beside the offer: on Thursday, Saudi armed forces intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis at Yanbu and Taif, per a military spokesperson as carried in our Thursday record, and the network’s Hormuz report carried a new wave on Friday morning, dozens of missiles and drones at Saudi targets with six ballistic missiles intercepted, per Saudi authorities as the network cited them, emergency alerts issued in Mecca, Jeddah and Yanbu, and Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan planning an urgent chiefs of staff meeting under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, while President Masoud Pezeshkian told Fox News, as carried, that “It’s America that must choose whether it wants to end this or not”, that “the Houthis are responsible for their own actions” and that Iran is not at war with Saudi Arabia. And the week’s other summit turned to the war too: Presidents Trump and Xi met at the White House on Thursday, with Xi telling Trump there is more opportunity for cooperation than competition on artificial intelligence, per a state media readout as carried, and China’s Middle East envoy Zhai Jun saying in Singapore that the Middle East situation was a big issue in the leaders’ discussion and the consensus reached will be critical to cooling the temperature in the conflict, per the network.
Top gainers
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Topix (Japan) | 4,128.59 | +1.31% |
| Nikkei 225 (Japan) | 66,364.20 | +1.30% |
| Straits Times (Singapore) | 5,710.65 | +0.48% |
Top gainers, closes of Friday 25 September 2026 from the vendor’s feed at our 09:22 GMT capture, identical across three pulls from 09:20 GMT, ranked by change; the Nikkei 225 close matches the network’s written closing figure exactly. Four boards carry no row tonight: mainland China’s markets and Seoul were closed for a holiday, per the network’s closing entry and the Korea Exchange calendar as recorded, with the Kospi returning Monday 28 September; Taipei was shut for the Mid Autumn Festival on the Taiwan Stock Exchange’s own holiday schedule, read first hand today, and with Monday’s Teacher’s Day holiday returns Tuesday 29 September; and Mumbai’s session had not closed at our capture, so the Nifty 50 carries no row this once.
Top losers
| Index | Close | Change |
|---|---|---|
| S&P/ASX 200 (Australia) | 8,665.00 | -0.43% |
| Hang Seng (Hong Kong) | 24,510.09 | -1.01% |
Top losers, same session, basis and capture as the gainers table, stacked shallowest to deepest; the S&P/ASX 200 close matches the network’s written closing figure exactly, and every change on the five rows reconciles against our published 24 September closes.
Commodities and currencies
| Instrument | Level | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Gold, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $4,331.50 | +0.78% |
| Silver, COMEX (Dec’26), dollars an ounce | $64.96 | +1.50% |
| Brent Crude, ICE (Nov’26), dollars a barrel | $104.82 | -1.67% |
| WTI Crude, NYMEX (Nov’26), dollars a barrel | $92.45 | -2.28% |
| US Dollar Index (DXY) | 101.09 | -0.19% |
| Euro/Dollar | 1.1391 | +0.11% |
| Sterling/Dollar | 1.3234 | +0.14% |
| Dollar/Yen | 157.92 | -0.57% |
Intraday quotes captured at 09:22 GMT on Friday 25 September 2026, one call, one stamp, fixed order; the Brent and WTI changes are measured against Thursday’s written settlements as carried in the price feed, which match the settlements cited in our 24 September wraps exactly, with the WTI row on the November contract as disclosed there; the gold and silver changes are measured against Thursday’s settlements as carried in the feed, settlement to snapshot. The currency rows are on the vendor’s daily basis.
Why it matters: the session’s clearest signal ran through the strait, on our reading. Tokyo rallied 1.3 percent and crude traded below Thursday’s written settlements in the session Iran attached a seven day timetable to a conditional offer, and the offer’s own terms, conditions Tehran calls nothing new and Washington has previously said it will not return to, are the measure of how provisional that pricing is. The board’s thinness is its own caution: with Shanghai, Shenzhen, Seoul and Taipei dark and Mumbai unfinished at our stamp, five rows carried four open markets, and the deepest mover, Hong Kong at 1.01 percent lower, moved against the relief read rather than with it. And the week’s missile tape at Saudi targets, answered by interceptions per Saudi authorities with an urgent chiefs of staff meeting now planned under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, is the reminder that the offer and the war are still running side by side, on our reading.
Outlook: our Europe wrap follows a session the network’s blog opened almost 0.7 percent higher on the Stoxx 600 with oil shares the outlier lower, and our commodities and United States wraps take tonight’s settlements with the Dow heading for a fourth consecutive losing week and Friday’s watch on the Michigan sentiment and durable goods prints, per the blog. The Gulf’s own boards are dark for the weekend and open the new trading week Sunday, with Riyadh’s first full week back from its National Day closure. Seoul returns Monday 28 September and Taipei Tuesday 29 on their exchange calendars as recorded. On Hormuz the next trigger is Washington’s answer: the seven day window in Araghchi’s offer opens only if the conditions are met, on his own words as carried, so no reopening clock is running yet.
Sources: Taiwan Stock Exchange, Korea Exchange, CNBC, Reuters, The Edge.
