Escalating tensions in the Middle East are sending ripples through global markets, with oil prices surging and the Norwegian krone strengthening.
Trading in oil opened sharply higher overnight. The price immediately jumped around 13 percent to $82 a barrel, according to Bloomberg. The price increase has since gradually subsided.
As of 6:10 a.m. Local time, the price of North Sea Brent crude is $77.38 a barrel, an increase of $4.30 since midnight.
The price of American West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude is rising by roughly the same amount to $71 a barrel.
The surge comes after the U.S. And Israel attacked Iran early Saturday morning. The attacks have caused damage inside Iran and the death of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has responded to the attack by firing missiles at a number of other countries in the Middle East.
