Oil shoots higher, shares skid as Middle East conflict drags on

Share markets nosedived in Asia on Monday as the inflationary shock from surging oil prices threatened to raise living ​costs and perhaps interest rates across the globe, while an investor hunger for liquidity kept the US dollar in demand. Brent soared 23% to $114.36 a barrel, the biggest ‌daily gain since at least 1988, which came on top of a 28% rise last week. US crude shot up a staggering 27% to $115.11, threatening to push petrol prices quickly skyward. Iran named Mojtaba Khamenei to succeed his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader, signalling that hardliners remained firmly in charge in Tehran a week into its conflict with the US and Israel. That was unlikely to be welcomed by US President Donald Trump, who had declared the son “unacceptable.”