HONG KONG (AP) — World shares were mixed Friday following a retreat on Wall Street, while the price of oil resumed its upward climb, hitting its highest level in nearly two years.
U.S. futures fell 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 dropped 0.3% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2%.In early European trading, Britain’s FTSE
100 added 0.1% to 10,423.95. Germany's DAX slipped 0.2% to 23,775.35, while the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.2% to 8,030.10.
In Asian trading, South Korea’s Kospi edged up less than 0.1% to 5,584.87, after a roller coaster week with a record 12% loss on Wednesday followed by a nearly 10% 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 0.6% to 55,620.84.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.7% to 25,757.29, while the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.4% to 4,124.19.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1% to 8,851.00.
Taiwan’s Taiex shed 0.2% and India's Sensex lost 0.8%.
Oil prices rose after dipping earlier after soaring earlier this week as production and supply worries over the war with Iran intensified.
Benchmark U.S. crude surged 4.1% to $84.36 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 1.7% to $87 per barrel. It was trading near its its highest level since April 2024.
If oil prices spike further, perhaps to $100 per barrel, and remain at that level, some analysts and investors expect that would weigh on global economic growth. Uncertainty over what will happen with the war has caused frenetic swings across financial markets this week.
Before oil prices started rising again, ING analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a note that Friday's brief easing of crude prices followed a 30-day temporary waiver from the U.S. for Indian refiners to buy Russian oil. It's not a “game-changer,” they said, but reflects U.S 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, the 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% and the Dow industrials lost 1.6%. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.3%.
Airline stocks were among Wall Street'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%, United Airlines lost 5% and Delta Air Lines was down 3.9%.
In other dealings early Friday, the U.S. dollar rose to 157.84 Japanese yen from 157.56 yen. The euro fell to $1.1582 from $1.1611.
The price of gold rose 0.4% and the price of silver climbed 1.1%.
