Hong Kong, Jun 12: Asian shares climbed sharply on Friday, tracking big Wall Street gains, and oil prices slipped after US President Donald Trump claimed there was a breakthrough in talks to end the Iran war.
US futures edged higher.
South Korea’s Kospi jumped 7.8 per cent to 8,370.82, narrowing losses from earlier this month from sell-offs of shares related to artificial intelligence. The Kospi has roughly doubled over the past six months, with a record closing high of 8.801.49 on June 2.
Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s most valuable company, advanced 11.2 per cent. Computer chipmaker SK Hynix rose 7.2 per cent.
Tokyo’s Nikkei’s 225 gained 3.5 per cent to 66,442.95, also led by gains for technology stocks. SoftBank Group, a multinational investment holding company with a strong AI focus, was up 2 per cent. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron jumped 10.3 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.8 per cent to 24,689.32 and the Shanghai Composite index rose 1.6 per cent to 4,050.51.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 traded 1.9 per cent higher to 8,798.10.
Taiwan’s Taiex gained 2.6 per cent, while India’s Sensex advanced 1.2 per cent.
The renewed investor optimism came after Trump said Thursday he had called off military strikes against Iran. He asserted that the US had made “a great settlement of the war with Iran,” adding that an extension of the shaky ceasefire between the two sides could be finalized in “the next few days.” Few details were offered.
Global markets retreated earlier in the week as tensions between the US and Iran escalated. High oil prices have added to inflationary pressures globally as the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the world’s oil and gas transit, remained largely closed.
“Trump has said many times before that a deal is very close, only for hostilities to resume,” ING commodities analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a note on Friday. “However, there does appear to be more positive noise around the deal this time.”
“(But) we would be cautious about assuming that the extension of the ceasefire is a done deal,” they added. “Even if it is, it could be fragile.”
Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 1.7 per cent to USD 88.87 per barrel early Friday. That was still much higher than the roughly USD 70 a barrel level it was at before the war began in late February.
Benchmark US crude shed 1.6 per cent to USD 86.33 a barrel.
On Thursday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 surged 1.8 per cent to 7,394.30, back to where it was in early May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1.9 per cent to 50,848.75, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 2.5 per cent to 25,809.66.
Prices of AI and other tech stocks have been volatile the past week in part due to renewed worries that massive investments and soaring share prices are creating a bubble liable to burst.
On Thursday, US chipmaker Marvell Technology climbed 11.1 per cent, but technology company Oracle lost 8.5 per cent on worries over its high spending, despite strong-than-expected quarterly results.
Investors in the US and elsewhere are also awaiting the big debut Friday on Wall Street of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, which is set to become the largest IPO on record, raising around USD 75 billion.
In other dealings early Friday, the US dollar rose to 160.22 Japanese yen from 159.93 yen. The euro was trading at USD 1.1574, down from USD 1.1578. (AP)
