Investing.com - Asian markets rebounded in morning trade on Thursday after U.S.-Iran tensions appeared to ease somewhat.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the SZSE Component gained 0.5% and 1.1%. The country’s consumer price index rose 4.5% last month from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics data said Thursday. The median forecast was for a 4.7% increase.
Meanwhile, the producer price index declined 0.5% from a year earlier, slower than the 1.4% drop in November.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.2%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumped 2.0%. South Korea’s KOSPI traded 1.1% higher.
Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 climbed 0.6%.
Overnight, U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran has appeared to be “standing down.”
"Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned," Trump said in a speech following Iran's strikes on several U.S. military bases.
"The fact that we have this great military and equipment, however, does not mean we have to use it," the president added.
His comments eased concerns of further escalation of conflict in the Middle East.
However, the president added that the U.S. will “immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian regime.”
His comments came after Iran reportedly launched rockets against U.S. military bases in Iraq. Last week, Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad.
Global equities slumped on Wednesday after the attack, but recovered after the two countries appeared to suggest a halt in hostilities.