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South Korean stocks rose nearly 3 percent Tuesday to inch toward the 6,000-point mark on hopes for renewed negotiations between Washington and Tehran. The local currency sharply gained against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) added 159.13 points, or 2.74 percent, to close at 5,967.75, after reaching as high as 6,026,52.

The index swerved over and under the 6,000-point mark, marking the first such move since March 3, when the index traded at 6,180.45, the first trading day after the United States and Israel carried out air strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.

Trading volume was moderate at 881.9 billion shares worth 26.7 trillion won (US$18 billion), with gainers beating losers 669 to 197.

Foreigners and institutions scooped up a net 830 billion won and 1.25 trillion won, respectively, while individuals sold a net 2.4 trillion won.

The U.S. military began a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz on Monday after a breakdown of weekend talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, between Washington and Tehran.

However, Donald Trump said Iran wants to reach a deal with the U.S., raising hopes that the two sides could return to negotiations.

“Investors anticipate a second round of peace talks between the U.S. and Iran after Trump’s comments,” said Kang Jin-hyuk, an analyst at Kyobo Securities. “The Wall Street Journal also reported that the two sides have exchanged detailed terms on uranium enrichment, raising further hopes for a deal.”

Tech and financial shares led the rally.

Tech giant Samsung Electronics rose 2.74 percent to 206,500 won and SK hynix jumped 6.06 percent to 1.1 million won ahead of its first-quarter earnings report next week.

Major banking group Hana Financial Group increased 0.67 percent to 120,800 won and Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance added 3.82 percent to 489,500 won.

Top carmaker Hyundai Motor advanced 2.72 percent to 491,500 won and major gamemaker NC climbed 3.97 percent to 248,500 won.

Leading mobile carrier SK Telecom gained 3.24 percent to 95,500 won and retail giant Shinsegae rose 1.02 percent to 346,500 won.

However, defense shares went south as industry leader Hanwha Aerospace fell 0.46 percent to 1.52 million won and LIG D&A, formerly LIG Nex1, declined 0.53 percent to 934,000 won.

The local currency was quoted at 1,481.2 won against the greenback as of 3:30 p.m., up 8.1 won from the previous session.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys fell 4.3 basis points to 3.339 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds dropped 3.5 basis points to 3.519 percent.

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April 9 (UPI) — Oil prices were on the rise again on Thursday amid concerns a “fragile” cease-fire between the United States, Iran and Israel could unravel over continued fighting in Lebanon and few signs the Strait of Hormuz was about to reopen to shipping.

The Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate international benchmarks were both trading around 4% higher at $98.62 and $99.94 a barrel respectively in early afternoon trade on Thursday, after prices plunged Wednesday on the announcement of a two-week cessation of hostilities.

Share prices in Asia also fell overnight with the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo giving up some of the gains made on Wednesday with European stocks following suit when exchanges opened Thursday morning.

The market reacted to warnings from both sides that they were prepared to resume military action if the other did not adhere to truce terms neither party accepts are the same, with Tehran saying Israeli strikes on Lebanon were a “grave violation” and Washington saying Iran must comply with the “real” agreement.

There was also growing concern over the reopening of the Hormuz Strait, a key term of the agreement which must be implemented to ease the disruption to global oil supply that has sent prices soaring.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh told BBC Radio on Thursday that Iran would “provide security for safe passage” through the sea lane via which around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas is exported, but only “after the United States withdraws this aggression” — an apparent reference to the Israeli strikes in Lebanon.

He stressed that while the 21-mile wide strait had been “open for millennia” prior to the war, it was not international waters and that shipping only transited on the goodwill of Iran and Oman” — the sovereign countries on either side of the channel.

Khatibzadeh dodged questioning over how safe vessels would be and whether they would be required to pay tolls, saying Tehran wanted a “peaceful” arrangement, but that it would not permit “misuse” of the Gulf by warships.

However, London-headquartered shipping brokerage SSY Global said the Iranian navy had issued a warning to ships in the Persian Gulf that any vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz without permission “will be targeted and destroyed.”

Announcing the cease-fire on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said the deal hinged on the “complete, immediate, and safe opening” of the strait, a point pressed home on Wednesday by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who said while there were signs the process was starting Iran was required to fully open the strait.

“The president is very, very clear the deal is a cease-fire, a negotiation. That’s what we give, and what they give is that straits are going to be reopened. If we don’t see that happening, the president is not going to abide by our terms if the Iranians are not abiding by their terms.”

The White House announced Wednesday that Vance would lead the U.S. negotiating team at talks due to get underway in Islamabad, Pakistan, on Saturday.

Khatibzadeh said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian parliament, would head up the Iranian side.

The talks will try to reconcile two very different visions of the way forward — a 15-point U.S. plan and a 10-point Iranian plan — with Iran’s nuclear program which the Americans want totally scrapped but Iran insists on retaining for civilian energy purposes — topping the agenda.

It was Brady Murrietta’s silence rounding the bases, then his Darth Vader-like stare directed at St. John Bosco pitcher Jack Champlin after touching third base on Thursday and slowly jogging toward home plate that sent a clear message: Don’t poke the bear.

His two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning broke a 3-3 tie and keyed a 5-4 win to prevent the No. 1-ranked Lancers from suffering a three-game Trinity League baseball sweep by No. 2 St. John Bosco.

One day earlier, the intensity level between the two teams reached such a crescendo that after the fiery Champlin got the final out in a 4-1 win at Hart Park, he decided to offer a taunt.

“I was hearing them all game at third base,” Champlin said. “I pointed to the ground and was saying, ‘This is my field.’ A bunch ran out of the dugout toward me and it got bigger than it needed to be.”

There was pushing and shoving as St. John Bosco went nuclear on security for Thursday’s home game, so much so that a security person refused to let a 5-foot-4 sportswriter walk into the Orange Lutheran bullpen after the game until calmer heads prevailed.

Jack Champlin of St. John Bosco is fired up after a two-run triple on Thursday against Orange Lutheran.

(Nick Koza)

The two teams declined to shake hands in a precautionary measure. It was almost comedic, since Orange Lutheran pitcher Gary Morse has played with St. John Bosco pitcher Julian Garcia since they were 8 and texted him Thursday morning to congratulate him on his Wednesday pitching performance. And Murrietta intended to text his friends on the Braves, too.

“It was more to get my boys hyped up,” Murrietta said of staring at Champlin.

Wednesday’s game was particularly important with each team’s ace on the mound. The 6-foot-8 Morse had a 95 mph fastball and gave up two hits and one run with eight strikeouts over six innings. Garcia, who missed his junior season after arm surgery, touched 97 mph while striking out 10 and giving up three hits in six innings. The Braves broke the 1-1 tie with three runs in the seventh inning, keyed by a two-run single from James Clark.

On Tuesday, in St. John Bosco’s 7-4 win, Clark had another big game with two hits and three RBIs.

“Two best teams in the country,” Morse said.

Orange Lutheran (8-3, 1-2) was coming off a championship at the National High School Invitational in North Carolina. It showed off a top pitcher to join Morse in Cooper Sides, a senior transfer from Red Buff who struck out eight in five innings on Thursday in front of dozens of pro scouts.

Asked what he learned about his 11-3 defending Division 1 championship team this week, St. John Bosco coach Andy Rojo said, “I think it continues what we already know that it’s a tough team, a resilient team. We’ve had a lot of high-pressure, high-level games. A ton of one-run games.”

Said Garcia: “It pushed us to show we’re a great team.”

Orange Lutheran coach RJ Farrell saw his team fight back from adversity, and in the Texas-bound Murrietta, he has an MVP candidate capable of igniting the Lancers with his bat, glove and leadership skills.

The two teams could meet again next week during the Boras Classic in Orange County. Otherwise, it would come during a new-look Southern Section Division 1 playoff format that will have 16 teams and start with a best two-out-of-three series to advance. Both teams have shown they have the pitching to advance.

PHOENIX — You’d be forgiven if you thought this year’s Final Four was just a case of déjà vu.

On paper, that seems true — four No. 1 seeds who have dominated every round of the NCAA tournament arrived in Phoenix this week and they are the same four teams who reached the Final Four last year in Tampa, Fla.

Sustaining that level of success during the modern college basketball era, the four teams insist, isn’t as easy.

Connecticut doesn’t have Paige Bueckers; South Carolina doesn’t have Kamilla Cardoso; and UCLA coach Cori Close and the Bruins have a much different lineup.

“Getting here,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said, “is the hard part.”

UCLA coach Close noted during the Sweet 16 that the work to stay competitive in this era is exhausting for coaches, and it’s only getting harder. She will have another rebuild ahead of her immediately after getting to the pinnacle of the sport during back-to-back campaigns.

The Bruins will graduate the majority of its rotation after this season, with all five starters and top bench player Angela Dugalic projected to be WNBA draft picks in April.

Does that make this a make-it-or-break-it year for UCLA?

“I think in the back of our heads, we all know that this is our last go at this,” Bruins senior center Lauren Betts said. “It’s all or nothing for all of us.

”… I think when we do play, especially around this time, you can see throughout March Madness, we come out with a certain level of urgency because it is our last year. I think [Friday], we’re going to come out with that same level of urgency from the very beginning.”

UCLA’s Lauren Betts, left, and Angela Dugalic celebrate during the second half of the Bruins’ Elite Eight win over Duke on Sunday.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

UCLA senior forward Gabriela Jaquez added, “We’re just fighting for more days with each other at the end of the day.”

While the Bruins will bring back some young talent in Lena Bilic and Sienna Betts and add injured senior Timea Gardiner, they will essentially have to start from scratch. That’s not so unusual in the transfer portal era, where TCU went to the Elite Eight with five starters who transferred into the program.

“It is just brutal,” Close said on Thursday. “It’s a grind and that’s why all four of us should feel really proud that we’re here. That doesn’t make us any less competitive or wanting to win a national championship. But I think it is worth pausing and going, ‘Man, it’s amazing to be in this position, especially two years in a row.’”

To build this team, Close had to get Gianna Kneepkens in the portal, get Charlisse Leger-Walker healthy after transferring last season, coax career-best years out of Kiki Rice and Jaquez, help Lauren Betts come into her own as a defender along with a dominant offensive force and support a player like Dugalic willing to come off the bench.

The other three teams have starters they can build around for years to come. The Gamecocks, arguably the most successful program of the last half-decade-plus, landed Florida State scorer Ta’Niya Latson and Mississippi State center Madina Okot in the portal during the offseason to go along with returners Raven Johnson and Joyce Edwards.

“It’s not going to magically happen,” South Carolina coach Dawn Staley said, emphasizing strong habits are key.

The Huskies, the defending national champions with a strong recruiting pipeline and unmatched success during Auriemma’s tenure, are somewhat of an abnormality to the changing of the guard in the NCAA. South Carolina has been here for six straight years — with vastly different casts — while Texas hasn’t won a title since 1986 and UCLA never has.

“To do it at the level that the four teams that are here have done at this year, and really consistently, I think all four teams that are here, the only thing harder than building it is sustaining it,” Texas coach Vic Schaefer said. “When you sustain it at the level that the teams that are here have done it over the period and the course of years, it’s really incredible.

“What it takes to live there year in and year out, it’s hard. I think that’s what Coach [Close] was talking about a couple weeks ago. Man, she wasn’t looking for any sympathy or anything. It’s just a statement, man. It’s hard. Winning at this level is hard. It is.”

It might have seemed like a given that this tournament was going to go chalk, but that doesn’t make anything automatic and it doesn’t mean UCLA will stay at the top of the podium for years to come. UConn went three years between titles, after all.

UCLA coach Cori Close instructs her players during a win over Minnesota in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament on March 27.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

None of the four No. 1 seeds have struggled much in their respective games this tournament. The closest was UCLA’s 70-58 win over Duke, when the Bruins trailed at halftime and came back to win for the first time all season.

But UConn went eight scoreless minutes against Notre Dame in the 70-52 win in the Elite Eight. Texas and South Carolina rolled, and Texas is 16-3 against top 25 teams and has arguably the best momentum of any team left standing.

UCLA might have a path back to this spot after teams have shown how quickly they can rebuild. After all, TCU was in the Elite Eight in consecutive years after having to forfeit games due to lack of players.

But UConn will return Sarah Strong and Blanca Quiñonez, South Carolina has Edwards back and Texas has another year of Madison Booker, and other up-and-coming squads like Michigan and USC will be dangerous.

It might not be the Bruins’ last chance to win the big dance, but it might be their best ever. Getting here, after all, is the hardest part.

“I think success leaves clues for who is next,” Dugalic said. “We’re trying to leave that for the next generation of basketball, to sustain that, to show it is hard. This isn’t a nine-to-five, it’s our lives, and that’s what it takes for everyone to be here.”