Asian Coal Bonds Beat Peers as Iran War Triggers Energy Rethink

An unprecedented global energy crisis is driving Asia back to coal, in a pivot that’s generating a surprise boon for miners of the dirtiest fossil fuel and their bondholders.

Notes of coal miners and related entities in the Asia Pacific, the destination of roughly 80% of the crude oil that transits the Strait of Hormuz, have returned 0.3% since the war started, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with a 0.4% loss on debt of peers outside the region and a 2.4% slump in a broader gauge of global corporate bonds, the data show.