Hong Kong, Apr 17: Asian stocks were lower Friday even after Wall Street set another record, as investors watched for signs of more US-Iran talks and an extension of the ceasefire of the Iran war that is expiring next week.
Oil prices fell on Friday, while US futures edged up modestly.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 1 per cent to 58,930.87 after reaching an all-time high on Thursday. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.6 per cent lower at 6,191.19. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1 per cent to 26,126.86, while the Shanghai Composite index edged down 0.1 per cent to 4,051.45.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.3 per cent, while Taiwan’s Taiex traded 0.5 per cent lower.
US President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that he’s open to extending the two-week ceasefire in the Iran war, and Iran’s UN envoy said Tehran remained “cautiously optimistic” over negotiations with the US.
As optimism over an extended ceasefire grew, oil prices fell early Friday after climbing a day earlier. Brent crude, the international standard, was 1.1 per cent lower at USD 98.31 per barrel. It had surged roughly 40 per cent since the beginning of the Iran war in late February. Benchmark US crude was down 1.4 per cent to USD 89.90 a barrel.
Global energy shocks are growing over the impacts of the Iran war, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining largely closed while the US imposed a sea blockade on Iranian ports. The head of the International Energy Agency told The Associated Press on Thursday that Europe has “maybe six weeks or so” of jet fuel supplies remaining and warned of flight cancellations “soon.”
On Thursday, Wall Street set another record with the benchmark S&P 500 closing 0.3 per cent higher at 7,041.28, just a day after it eclipsed its previous all-time high in January. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2 per cent to 48,578.72, and the tech-focused Nasdaq composite added 0.4 per cent to 24,102.70.
Shares of PepsiCo gained 2.3 per cent following its announcement of better-than-expected quarterly results. US logistics company J.B. Hunt Transport Services was 6.3 per cent higher, also on stronger-than-expected results.
In other dealings, gold and silver prices were up. Gold’s price was 0.1 per cent higher at USD 4,814.60 per ounce, while silver prices gained 0.4 per cent to USD 79.04 per ounce.
The US dollar rose to 159.43 Japanese yen from 159.17 yen. The euro was trading at USD 1.1778, down from USD 1.1781. (AP)
