Asian shares are mixed after US stocks fall back while oil rebounds

BANGKOK: Shares were mixed in Asia on Friday after a modest retreat on Wall Street, while oil prices gained more than 1 per cent.

Selling of computer chipmakers and other stocks linked to the boom in artificial intelligence appeared to taper off a bit as Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 0.3 per cent to 65,500.10.

The Kospi in South Korea dropped 0.8 per cent to 6,242.88 and Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.4 per cent.

The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.8 per cent to 3,931.54 after China reported its exports grew at a slightly slower but still robust pace of about 24 per cent in July on strong demand for electronics and other high-tech products. China's huge trade surplus narrowed last month and imports also slowed.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged 0.2 per cent higher, to 25,582.34.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped less than 0.1 per cent, to 9,265.20.

On Thursday, stocks declined on Wall Street as oil prices rose and more company earnings reports rolled in.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2 per cent and the Dow industrials fell 0.9 per cent. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.1 per cent.

The price of Brent crude rose nearly 4 per cent on Thursday as progress toward reopening the Strait of Hormuz, vital to securing stable oil supplies, remained unclear.

Iran has said it is close to a deal with Oman for reopening the strait. US President Donald Trump has also previously said a deal is close, but the conflict has had many starts and stops over the past five months.

Reopening the strait may require a compromise since the Trump administration has ruled out Iran charging fees to ships. But Iran has insisted on some measure of control, saying the strait will not go back to being an international waterway.

As of early Friday, a barrel of Brent, the international standard, was up 1.6 per cent at USD 83.78. US benchmark crude oil advanced 1.2 per cent to USD 78.22 per barrel.

A fifth of the world's traded oil and natural gas once passed through the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices have surged as high as USD 113 due to the war and higher prices have added more heat to inflation by raising the price of gasoline and raising costs for shipping.

While markets are still weighed down by worries over the war and over a possible bubble in investments in artificial intelligence, strong overall corporate profits have helped allay concerns on Wall Street about shares being overpriced.

Roughly 85 per cent of companies in the S&P 500 have reported their results and overall earnings growth for the period is shaping up to be the strongest since 2021.

Warner Bros. Discovery rose 1.7 per cent after reporting earnings that came in ahead of what investors were expecting. Molson Coors rose 1.3 per cent after also reporting encouraging financial results.

On the losing end, Honeywell Aerospace fell 23.2 per cent after turning in results that fell well short of forecasts. AppLovin slumped 19.7 per cent after the digital ad company reported mixed financial results for its most recent quarter.

Outside of earnings, SpaceX rose 6.1 per cent. More than 911 million SpaceX shares held by early investors and employees became eligible for sale Thursday as a lockup period for the stock expired. That is more than double the shares that were initially offered to the public for sale during the initial public offering for Elon Musk's company.

SpaceX jumped as high as USD 225 a share following its market debut in June, but has since slumped below its initial USD 135 offering price. The stock is currently trading around USD 115.

The latest monthly jobs report, for July, will be released Friday.

US employment remains strong, but growth in hiring has been easing. A weekly report on Thursday showed the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits rose last week, though layoffs remain in the historically healthy range of the past few years. Employers pulled back on hiring in June, adding only 57,000 jobs.

In other dealings early Friday, the dollar fell to 158.35 Japanese yen from 158.42 yen. The euro was unchanged at USD 1.1524.