{"id":85688,"date":"2026-05-04T18:06:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T08:06:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/?p=85688"},"modified":"2026-05-04T18:06:51","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T08:06:51","slug":"monday-4th-may-2026-asian-markets-rally-as-south-korea-hits-record-high-amid-u-s-project-freedom-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/monday-4th-may-2026-asian-markets-rally-as-south-korea-hits-record-high-amid-u-s-project-freedom-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday 4th May 2026: Asian Markets Rally as South Korea Hits Record High Amid U.S. \u201cProject Freedom\u201d Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3><br \/>Global Markets:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>&nbsp;Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei up 0.38%, Shanghai Composite up 0.11% Hang Seng up 1.90% ASX down 0.31%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Commodities : Gold at $4,620.96 (-0.51%) Silver at $76.205 (-0.30%), Brent Oil at $108.46 (0.27%), WTI Oil at $101.81 (-0.09%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rates : US 10-year yield at 4.384, UK 10-year yield at 4.9690, Germany 10-year yield at 3.0342<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>News &amp; Data:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>(CHF) Retail Sales y\/y 0.5%&nbsp; to 0.6%&nbsp; expected<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>Markets Update:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>South Korean stocks climbed to a fresh record on Monday, extending April\u2019s strong gains, as investors assessed ongoing tensions between Iran and the United States alongside Washington\u2019s plan to reopen shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. President Donald Trump announced that efforts would begin to \u201cfree\u201d ships stranded since the escalation of the Iran conflict. The initiative, named \u201cProject Freedom,\u201d is scheduled to start Monday (Middle East time) and will primarily focus on enabling civilian vessels from non-aligned countries to safely exit the contested waterway and resume normal operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to U.S. Central Command, the mission will involve significant military support, including guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft across land and sea, advanced unmanned systems, and approximately 15,000 service personnel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oil prices edged lower following the announcement. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery slipped 0.26% to $101.68 per barrel, while Brent crude futures declined 0.13% to $108.03.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In equity markets, South Korea\u2019s Kospi surged 4.26%, while Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng index rose 1.8%. Australia\u2019s S&amp;P\/ASX 200, however, fell 0.28%. Markets in Japan and China remained closed due to public holidays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, U.S. stock futures were largely unchanged Sunday night. On Friday, the S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both reached record highs, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a modest decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Upcoming Events:<br \/><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>02:00 PM GMT &#8211; USD Factory Orders m\/m<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global Markets: News &amp; Data: Markets Update: South Korean stocks climbed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":84958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[196,215,339],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85688"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85689,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85688\/revisions\/85689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}