Asian markets were mostly lower on Friday, tracking losses on Wall Street, while oil prices remained close to $100 a barrel as concerns persisted over the Iran war and its potential impact on crude and gas supplies.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 1.1 per cent to 53,867.74, with technology stocks among the biggest decliners. SoftBank Group dropped 4.5 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.1 per cent to 25,680.65, while the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.1 per cent to 4,131.44. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.1 per cent to 8,639.60, but Taiwan's Taiex shed 0.7 per cent.
In oil markets, Brent crude, the international benchmark, gained 0.6 per cent to $97.22 per barrel. It had topped $100 on Thursday, days after surging to near $120 earlier this week. US benchmark crude fell 0.2 per cent to $95.22. Iran's new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in his first public statements, vowed to keep fighting and continue using the Strait of Hormuz – a vital waterway for oil and gas transport – as leverage against the US and Israel. Roughly 20 per cent of the world's oil is estimated to pass through the strait, and attacks on ships have heightened concerns over supply disruption and shipping bottlenecks, according to analysts at Mizuho Bank.
President Donald Trump's remark that the war was "very complete" has added to uncertainty over how long tensions might last. Oil prices have been volatile since the conflict began, with Brent reaching its highest level since 2022. The International Energy Agency said on Wednesday that its members would release 400 million barrels from emergency reserves, a record amount, but some economists doubt this will reassure markets.
Global inflation is likely to worsen as oil prices climb, and rising fuel costs are already hurting consumers. Higher energy prices could also raise the cost of developing and producing artificial intelligence and chips, some analysts say. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 1.5 per cent to 6,672.62, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.6 per cent to 46,677.85, and the Nasdaq composite lost 1.8 per cent to 22,311.98. Companies heavily reliant on fuel saw sharper declines: Carnival slid 7.9 per cent and United Airlines sank 4.6 per cent. In currency markets, the US dollar rose to 159.35 yen from 159.34 yen, while the euro was nearly unchanged at $1.1511.
