In the Middle East, Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas militant group faced mounting international calls for a ceasefire in hostilities that entered their second week on Monday with no end in sight.
In either case, oil is expected to retrace further over the next few days. Only a rise above $69.87 could confirm the continuation of the uptrend towards $71.38.
But Asia struggled to follow suit with most markets swinging in and out of positive territory. Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Seoul, Wellington, Taipei and Manila were all in the red but Singapore and Jakarta edged up.
European indexes enjoyed a much-needed blast upwards -- led by a record close in Frankfurt -- after EU leaders pledged to double vaccine deliveries to 300 million doses between April and June, having been too slow out of the blocks in its immunisation programme.