- Oil prices fall -

Comments from President Donald Trump declaring the Middle East war "pretty much" over sent oil prices down, and pushed US stocks skyward.

The US crude oil benchmark, WTI, fell over five percent on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, while all three major stock indices moved suddenly higher with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing 0.5 percent up at 47,740.80, a swing of 1,125 points from earlier in the day.

- G7 finance ministers -

- France's finance minister said the G7 was "not there yet" in terms of any release of strategic oil reserves as the world's leading industrialised nations held crisis talks on the economic fallout of the Middle East war, even as they stand ready to do so.

- G7 energy ministers are set to meet on Tuesday.

- Transport/tourism -

- President Emmanuel Macron said France and its allies were preparing a "defensive" mission to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as the war entered its second week.

- Several ships anchored in the Gulf or transiting the Strait of Hormuz are changing their tracking data to boast links to China in an attempt to evade Iranian attacks, according to data from shipping tracker MarineTraffic analysed by AFP.

- Lufthansa and Air France extended flight cancellations to Middle East destinations.

- Global shipping company MSC announced it was formally halting certain export shipments from the Gulf due to the war and that "all affected cargo will be discharged".

- Initial measures-

- Croatia, Hungary, South Korea and Thailand imposed price caps on fuel.

- China asked key refiners in early March to suspend their exports of diesel and gasoline.

- Nigeria's Dangote mega-refinery pledged to prioritise the domestic market to help prevent fuel shortages.

- In Japan, the Nikkei newspaper reported that authorities have asked oil reserves to prepare for their release.

rl/bgs/mlm

Lufthansa

Air France-KLM