Aerial view of Seoul downtown city skyline with vehicle on expressway and bridge cross over Han river in Seoul city, South Korea.<\/p>\n
Mongkol Chuewong | Moment | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Asia-Pacific markets were mostly higher Monday as investors looked past renewed diplomatic setbacks between the U.S. and Iran, even as escalating tensions in the Middle East kept oil prices elevated.<\/p>\n
Japan’s Nikkei 225<\/a> added 0.53% to hit a record high, while South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1% to also notch a record level.<\/p>\n In Australia, the\u00a0S&P\/ASX 200<\/a> slid 0.54%.<\/p>\n Sentiment held up despite U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday scrapping plans to send U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad, Pakistan for negotiations with Iran.<\/p>\n “Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their ‘leadership,'” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.<\/p>\n Oil prices jumped about 2% after plans for a second round of peace negotiations between the U.S. and Iran unraveled again.<\/p>\n International benchmark\u00a0Brent<\/a>\u00a0oil futures rose more than 2% to $107.49 per barrel by 7:35 p.m. ET, while U.S.\u00a0crude oil<\/a>\u00a0also jumped 1.79% to $96.19.<\/p>\n Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz remain high after Iran’s Revolutionary Guard reportedly boarded two cargo ships near the strategic sea lane.<\/p>\n Hong Kong Hang Seng index<\/a> futures were at 26,041 compared with the index’s last close of 25,978.07.<\/p>\n U.S. futures edged lower, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures<\/a> declining 0.2%, or 130 points. S&P 500 futures<\/a> lost 0.3%, while Nasdaq 100 futures<\/a> slipped 0.3%.<\/p>\n Last Friday in the U.S., the\u00a0S&P 500<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Nasdaq Composite<\/a>\u00a0closed at record levels. The broad market index finished up 0.8% at 7,165.08, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.63% to settle at 24,836.60. Both indexes also scored fresh all-time intraday highs. However, the\u00a0Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a>\u00a0fell 79.61 points, or 0.16%, to end at 49,230.71.<\/p>\n \u2014 CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.<\/p>\n