More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Apr. 2, 2026

--MCX April crude oil futures contract up 5.6% at INR 9,766 per barrel 

--ICE Brent June crude oil futures contract up 5% at $106.13 per barrel 

--WTI May crude oil futures contract up 4.1% at $104.31 per barrel 

MUMBAI – Futures contracts of crude oil on the Multi Commodity Exchange surged on Thursday, tracking a rise in futures on the Intercontinental Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices rose after the market reacted to US President Donald Trump's first public address since the war in West Asia began over a month ago. Though Trump said that the US was looking to exit the war "shortly", he vowed extreme military action against Iran in the next two to three weeks. The market had expected Trump's address to quell fears about the ongoing supply disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump spoke about US and Venezuela's oil production, saying that the US does not need oil from abroad, effectively giving up responsibility to try opening up the shipping route, the BBC reported. Trump said that countries that need oil from West Asia should now take the lead to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. "To those countries that can't get fuel, many of which refuse to get involved in the decapitation of Iran...build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait and just take it. Protect it," Trump said.

He also said the Strait was likely to open up "naturally" once the war was over. "In any event, when this conflict is over, the strait will open up naturally. It'll just open up naturally. They're gonna want to be able to sell oil, because that's all they have to try and rebuild. It will resume the flowing, and the gas prices will rapidly come back down. Stock prices will rapidly go back up," Al Jazeera quoted Trump as saying.

Energy shipments from the Gulf have largely come to a standstill after Iran retaliated against the US-Israeli strikes by threatening to attack vessels that try to cross the Strait of Hormuz, a critical trade waterway.

Prices were also supported as Trump threatened the US would hit all of Iran's electricity-generating plants and potentially oil sites if Tehran doesn't arrive at a deal, Dow Jones reported. "We have not hit their oil even though that's the easiest target of all, because it will not give them even a small change of survival or rebuilding," Trump said, adding, "But we could hit it, and it would be gone." Trump described the rise in energy prices as a short-term consequence stemming directly from Iran's attacks on energy infrastructure in West Asia. 

At 0955 IST, the most-active April crude oil contract on the MCX was up 6.6% at INR 9,864 per barrel. The ICE Brent June crude oil contract up 6% at $107.3 per barrel, and the WTI May crude oil contract up 5% at $105.18 per barrel.  End

US$1 = INR 93.26

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

Reported by Shreya Shetty

Edited by Avishek Dutta

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.