Oil prices tumbled and stock markets rallied across the world on Wednesday after Donald Trump said the war in Iran would end in “two to three weeks”.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil, dropped to $99.78 a barrel, down more than 15% compared with its price on Tuesday – its lowest level in a week.

Stock markets rallied in Asia, where economies are highly exposed to shortages of oil and gas coming out of the Gulf. Japan’s Nikkei index surged up 5%, while the South Korean Kospi jumped by 8%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose by 2%, and China’s CSI 300 index was up by 1.7%.

European stock markets followed Asia higher, with the UK’s blue-chip FTSE 100 up by 1.8% in early trading on Wednesday. The Europe Stoxx 600 index,…