Asian Stocks Near Record, Oil Set for Weekly Loss: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Stocks in Asia hovered near record highs in holiday-thinned trading as optimism that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz will restore oil flows and curb inflation pressures buoyed risk appetite.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was up 0.3%, heading for a sixth day of gains. The tech-heavy Kospi led the region, jumping 3.5%. US equity futures edged lower after the S&P 500 climbed 1.1% and the Nasdaq 100 gained 2.5% Thursday. A gauge of chip stocks surged more than 6% to an all-time high, led by Intel Corp., after President Donald Trump said the company would work with Apple Inc. to design and manufacture semiconductors in the US.

Markets in the US, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are shut for holidays on Friday.

Global markets are wrapping up a pivotal week marked by a landmark US-Iran agreement, Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s first policy meeting and the Bank of Japan’s decision to raise interest rates to the highest level since 1995. Stocks remained resilient despite the barrage of market-moving events, with MSCI Inc.’s index of world shares up 1.4% in what’s poised to be its best week this month.

Brent traded around $79 a barrel on Friday. Prices have tumbled by more than 9% this week as the US-Iran interim peace deal saw shipping through the Strait of Hormuz start to return to normal, easing the global crude market’s biggest ever supply shock. Attention now shifts to talks over Tehran’s nuclear program and the durability of the ceasefire.

“The repricing this week has been drastic and part of that came about because of the resumption of Iranian oil almost instantaneously,” Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia, said on Bloomberg Television. “What comes next is the execution risk. There’s a lot of details still to be nutted out.”

Earlier Thursday, Trump posted on Truth Social that “oil is flowing.” US Vice President JD Vance downplayed concerns Iran could eventually impose tolls on traffic through the vital energy waterway.

Two-year Treasury yields steadied around 4.18% on Thursday, after surging 13 basis points to hit the highest in over a year in the previous session, when traders ramped up bets on future interest-rate hikes following the Fed’s hawkish hold.

However, 30-year US notes rallied in a sign the market believes inflation will be contained over the longer term, with yields declining three basis points to 4.9%. There is no cash trading in Treasuries during Asian hours due to the US holiday.

The Bank of England held rates at 3.75% on Thursday, saying the recent drop in oil prices was “encouraging,” even as two of the nine policymakers voted for an immediate quarter-point hike over concerns of persistent inflation.

Should lower energy costs continue to filter through to inflation data, policymakers may ultimately find sufficient justification to keep rates unchanged for an extended period rather than hiking, according to Fawad Razaqzada at Forex.com.

“My view remains that inflation should moderate gradually over the coming months, and this might allow the Fed to maintain current policy settings rather than implement fresh tightening,” he said.

Meanwhile, the yen remained a key focus in foreign-exchange markets. Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said the government can take bold action against speculative moves, as the currency trades not far from the weakest level in four decades.

Elsewhere, gold was on track for a third weekly loss as a hawkish Fed and rate-hike bets outweighed the optimism over the peace deal. A gauge of the dollar edged lower but remained on course for a weekly advance.

Corporate Highlights:

Bankers for Elon Musk’s SpaceX are preparing to hold calls with investors as soon as next week to discuss a potential bond offering on the heels of the company’s record IPO, according to people with knowledge of the matter. SpaceX is proving that even the largest-ever IPO is not immune to the type of volatility that tends to rock big companies after they go public, with the shares falling for a second straight day. Amazon.com Inc. is in talks to sell its custom-made artificial intelligence chips for use in other companies’ data centers, a key expansion of its efforts to cut into Nvidia Corp.’s dominance. Accenture Plc said it’s expecting to reel in less revenue in the coming months, as artificial intelligence upends the consulting services industry and clients paused business due to the conflict in the Middle East. A parliamentary hearing into KPMG Australia’s alleged misuse of confidential client information began on Friday, with fiery exchanges traded between witnesses and lawmakers. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

S&P 500 futures fell 0.2% as of 10:19 a.m. Tokyo time Nikkei 225 futures (OSE) rose 0.8% Japan’s Topix fell 0.4% Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1% Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.3% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1461 The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 161.14 per dollar The Australian dollar was little changed at $0.7009 Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin was little changed at $62,980.28 Ether rose 0.2% to $1,712.48 Bonds

Japan’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.625% Australia’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.78% Commodities

West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $76.41 a barrel Spot gold fell 0.6% to $4,185.23 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

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