BANGKOK: Shares slipped in Europe after a mixed session Friday in Asia, while US futures edged higher.
Oil prices rebounded after dropping sharply on Thursday.
Germany's DAX edged 0.1 per cent lower to 25,323.98, while the CAC 40 in Paris gave up 0.4 per cent to 8,277.40. Britain's FTSE 100 inched up 0.1 per cent to 10,250.97.
The future for the S&P 500 added 0.3 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 per cent.
Gains in Asia were led by Taiwan, where the benchmark rose nearly 2 per cent after its government signed a trade deal with the US China, which claims the self-governed island as its own territory, protested the agreement.
The agreement cuts tariffs on Taiwanese goods to 15 per cent in exchange for USD 250 billion in new investments in the US tech industry.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 shed 0.3 per cent to 53,936.17, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng gave up 0.3 per cent to 26,844.96. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.3 per cent to 4,101.91.
China is due to report its economic growth data for 2025 on Monday. Forecasts are for the economy to have expanded at about a 4.5 per cent annual pace, slowing from earlier in the year.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi rose 0.9 per cent to a record 4,840.74. The benchmark has been trading at record highs for weeks, helped by a recovery in confidence in AI-related shares. Samsung Electronics gained 3.5 per cent.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5 per cent to 8,903.90. India's Sensex rose 0.2 per cent.
Wall Street steadied on Thursday as stocks related to artificial-intelligence bounced back.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6 per cent. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.2 per cent.
Easing oil prices also helped to calm investors' jitters.
Early Friday, a barrel of benchmark US crude cost USD 59.61, up 53 cents from a day earlier. It sank 4.6 per cent on Thursday after Trump said he had heard “on good authority” that plans for executions in Iran had stopped amid widespread protests against the country's leadership.
Brent crude, the international standard, added 60 cents to USD 64.36 per barrel. It dropped 4.1 per cent on Thursday.
Financial markets took Trump's comments about Iran as a signal that tensions flaring above some of the world's largest oil deposits could ease, which in turn could lower the possibility of disruptions to oil supplies.
Earnings reporting season for big US companies are picking up pace, meanwhile, with several more big financial companies delivering their results for the last three months of 2025.
“As we dive into the heart of earnings season in the coming weeks, tech results will be scrutinised in far greater detail,” Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote said in a commentary.
“Concerns around circular AI deals, leverage and delayed returns on investment remain front of mind for investors. These are compounded by rising electricity and metals costs, higher memory-chip prices, and the risk of supply disruptions,” she said.
In other dealings early Friday, the US dollar fell to 158.19 Japanese yen from 158.63 yen.
The euro rose to USD 1.1614 from USD 1.1609.