Hong Kong, Mar 6 (AP) Asia shares were mixed Friday following a mild retreat on Wall Street, while the price of oil fell more than USD 1 after reaching the highest level since the summer of 2024.
US futures edged higher as the war with Iran entered its seventh day, with Israeli airstrikes pounding the capitals of Iran and Lebanon. The future for the S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.3 per cent.
In Asian trading, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.8 per cent to 5,536.40, after a roller coaster week with a 12 per cent loss on Wednesday followed by a nearly 10 per cent rebound on Thursday. The index had shot above 6,000 in recent weeks before the war began to rattle financial markets.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.4 per cent to 55,518.63.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.6 per cent to 25,713.49, while the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1 per cent higher, to 4,113.70.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.1 per cent to 8,845.30.
Taiwan’s Taiex traded 0.4 per cent lower, while India’s Sensex lost 0.6 per cent.
Oil prices fell Friday in a reprieve from this week’s surges as production and supply worries over the war with Iran intensified. Benchmark US crude lost 1.2 per cent early Friday to USD 80.07 per barrel, after hitting USD 81.01 a barrel on Thursday.
Brent crude, the international standard, lost 1 per cent to USD 84.59 per barrel, after reaching USD 85.41 a day earlier.
If oil prices spike further, like to USD 100 per barrel, and stay there, some analysts and investors say it could be too much for the global economy to withstand. Uncertainty about what will happen has caused frenetic swings across financial markets this week, sometimes hour by hour.
Friday’s easing of crude prices followed a 30-day temporary waiver from the US for Indian refiners to buy Russian oil, analysts at ING Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said in a note. It’s not a “game-changer,” they said, but reflects US efforts to cap oil prices.
Oil prices will hinge on a steady resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz following disruptions of tanker activities there, ING analysts wrote. Roughly one fifth of the world’s seaborne oil is estimated to flow through the waterway located between Iran and Oman.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.6 per cent to 6,830.71. The Dow industrials lost 1.6 per cent to 47,954.74, and the Nasdaq composite dropped 0.3 per cent to 22,748.99.
Computer chip company Broadcom’s shares jumped 4.8 per cent on stronger-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue, which helped contain the overall losses on Wall Street.
Airline stocks were among the US market’s biggest losers, as higher oil prices pushed up fuel costs while hundreds of thousands of passengers have been stranded across the Middle East due to the war.
American Airlines fell 5.4 per cent, United Airlines lost 5 per cent and Delta Air Lines was down 3.9 per cent.
In other dealings early Friday, the US dollar rose to 157.80 Japanese yen from 157.56 yen. The euro was unchanged at USD 1.1611.
The price of gold rose 1.1 per cent and the price of silver climbed 2.7 per cent. (AP) GSP
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