World shares are mixed with most markets closed for May Day, while oil holds steady at USD 111 per barrel

TOKYO: World shares were mixed, and US futures edged higher on Friday, with most markets closed for May Day holidays.

Brent crude's price rose 83 cents to USD 111.23 per barrel while the US benchmark crude added 12 cents to USD 105.19 per barrel.

Prospects for a deal to cement a three-week ceasefire in the Iran war remained clouded as Iran's supreme leader said it will protect its nuclear and missile capabilities as a national asset.

The war's shocks to oil supplies and prices are putting pressure on US President Donald Trump, who was floating a new plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passageway for oil and gas exports from the Middle East.

Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.6 per cent to 10,319.24. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.7 per cent to 59,678.31 as the Japanese yen gained against the US dollar. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 surged 0.9 per cent to 8,743.70.

Most other share markets were closed.

The dollar bought 156.56 Japanese yen, down from 156.61 yen late Thursday. But that was well below the above 160 yen level it hit on Thursday. Japanese officials had warned they would intervene in the market if the yen fell further, and then reportedly acted on those warnings.

The euro rose to USD 1.1733 from USD 1.1731.

The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1 per cent higher after US stocks motored to more records Thursday on strong profits for Alphabet, Caterpillar and other big businesses.

The S&P 500 rallied 1 per cent and topped its prior all-time high to close out its best month in more than five years. It closed at 7,209.01. The Dow leapt 1.6 per cent to 49,652.14, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9 per cent to a record of 24,892.31.

Alphabet led the way and rallied 10 per cent after the owner of Google and YouTube reported profit for the latest quarter that almost doubled analysts' expectations. Investments in artificial intelligence “are lighting up every part of the business,” its CEO, Sundar Pichai, said.

It's the latest company to deliver fatter profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected, even with very high oil prices and uncertainty about the economy.

In share trading, Meta Platforms tumbled 8.7 per cent even though the company behind Facebook and Instagram made more profit last quarter than expected. Investors focused more on its increased forecast for how much it will spend on data centres and other investments as it builds out its AI capabilities.

Doubts are still high among some investors about whether all the spending on AI will produce enough profit and productivity to make it worth it.

Microsoft fell 3.9 per cent after likewise raising its forecast for investments and other capital spending.

Reports suggested the US economy grew at a slower pace in January to March than economists had expected, while a measure of inflation worsened in March.

A separate report said that fewer US workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, an indication of fewer layoffs, even though companies are announcing large cuts to workforces.

Friday brought some calm to the oil market, after prices surged on Thursday on worries over the potential long-term impact of the war on the flow of crude.

Traders are buying and selling contracts for different kinds of oil, going out for many months. In the most actively traded part of the market for Brent crude, for delivery in July, the price rose as high as USD 114.70 per barrel, fell back toward USD 107 and settled at USD 110.40 on Thursday, nearly unchanged from the day before.

So far during the war, the peak price for the most actively traded Brent contract has been USD 119.50, which was set last month.

In a less actively traded corner of the Brent market, the price for a barrel to be delivered in June briefly went above USD 126 early Thursday before pulling back toward USD 114.

Brent's price was roughly USD 70 before the war.