Oil rises, stocks edge lower

Benchmark Brent crude futures were up 1.3% at $101.60 ​a barrel

Oil prices were higher on Friday and stocks a little bit lower as Iran and the US exchanged strikes in West Asia, though many markets in Asia were still heading for stellar weekly ​gains as AI demand has swept up chipmakers.

Benchmark Brent crude futures were up 1.3% at $101.60 ​a barrel.

Iran and the US exchanged strikes on Thursday in the most serious ‌test yet of their month-long ceasefire, but Iran said the situation had returned to normal while the US said it did not want to escalate.

Stock markets in Asia, which have been soaring thanks to gains in chipmakers and other AI-linked stocks, slid only slightly from record highs.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asian shares outside Japan dipped 0.8%, as did KOSPI though the latter was still headed for a weekly gain of more than 12% – the largest since 2008 – as Samsung and SK Hynix have surged.

Taiwan’s benchmark is up 6.9% this week and Nikkei 4.5%.

Despite ongoing hostilities and still-elevated oil prices, markets are pricing a limited duration, said Marija Veitmane, head of equity research at State Street Markets, with Asia and the US attracting ‌the most buying at Europe’s expense.

The Nikkei was 0.4% lower through Friday morning, dragged by a decline in SoftBank shares after Arm Holdings, where it is majority owner, warned of trouble securing supply for its new artificial intelligence chip.

S&P 500 futures added 0.2%.

Currency markets were broadly steady with the dollar recovering from recent lows and the yen in focus as Japan has likely been intervening to stave off further falls.

The euro bought $1.1731, the Aussie $0.7210 and the yen was at 156.9 per dollar having struggled to sustain gains beyond 155 after surges on suspected intervention to the tune of around $70 billion since last Thursday.

Yuan, Asia’s best-performing currency since the war broke out, ​is on the cusp of strengthening past 6.8 to the dollar and sits near its strongest since 2023.