Asian shares climbed sharply on Friday, tracking big Wall Street gains, and oil prices slipped after U.S. President Donald Trump claimed there was a breakthrough in talks to end the Iran war.

Market Reaction

South Korea’s Kospi jumped 7.8% to 8,370.82, narrowing losses from earlier this month from sell-offs of shares related to artificial intelligence. The Kospi has roughly doubled over the past six months, with a record closing high of 8.801.49 on June 2.

Tokyo’s Nikkei’s 225 gained 3.5% to 66,442.95, also led by gains for technology stocks. SoftBank Group, a multinational investment holding company with a strong AI focus, was up 2%. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron jumped 10.3%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.8% to 24,689.32 and the Shanghai Composite index rose 1.6% to 4,050.51.

Oil Prices

Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 1.7% to $88.87 per barrel early Friday. That was still much higher than the roughly $70 a barrel level it was at before the war began in late February.

Benchmark U.S. crude shed 1.6% to $86.33 a barrel.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.