Asian stocks surged on Thursday as some vessels resumed passage through the Strait of Hormuz, while forecast-beating results at Nvidia and a suspended workers' strike at Samsung Electronics lifted shares of chipmakers.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 2.6%, snapping a four-day streak of losses. Korea's leapt more than 7%, Taiwanese shares rose 3.5% and Chinese blue-chips gained 1.1%.
Brent crude futures edged up 0.6% to $105.68 a barrel in Asia trade, retracing declines after three supertankers passed through the strait on Wednesday and Iran consolidated its control of the waterway.
Supply concerns persist though following a U.S. inventory drawdown. On Wednesday, Wall Street rose 1.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.5% after three days of losses.
Gains came as President Donald Trump said the U.S. was ready for further action against Iran if no peace deal was reached, but indicated Washington could wait a few days to “get the right answers.”
"Oil prices declined and other major markets rallied, as investors took comfort from headlines quoting Trump saying the U.S. was in the 'final stages' with Iran," analysts from Westpac wrote in a research report.
Asian chipmakers' shares rose after Nvidia's better-than-expected revenue forecast on Wednesday as CEO Jensen Huang aimed to reassure investors that the world's most valuable company can sustain blockbuster growth in demand for its flagship AI chips.
"The chip landscape remains Nvidia’s world with everybody else paying rent, as more sovereigns and enterprises wait in line for Nvidia's chips," said Dan Ives, Global Head of Technology Research at Wedbush Securities in New York.
However, Nvidia's shares fell 1.3% in extended trading, while S&P 500 e-mini futures slipped 0.2%.
"The market’s reaction was relatively muted by its own lofty standards," said Tony Sycamore, Market Analyst at IG in Sydney.
In Seoul, Samsung Electronics shares surged 6% after the electronics giant's union said it would suspend industrial action upon reaching a tentative pay deal with the company, averting a strike by nearly 48,000 workers that threatened South Korea's economy and global chip supply.
However, the rally was blunted after a shareholder group said the management's tentative pay deal with its labour union was illegal.
Japan's Nikkei 225 share jumped 3.6% after S&P Global's flash manufacturing PMI showed expansion in May, albeit at a slower pace than a month earlier, slipping to 54.5 from 55.1 in April, but still firmly above the mark separating growth from contraction.
"By and large, external demand has turned out exceptionally strong despite the U.S.-Iran conflict," analysts from DBS wrote in a research report.
Separately, Japanese exports rose 14.8% year-on-year in April, Finance Ministry data showed, rising for an eighth straight month and confounding fears of stagflation in the global economy. Against the yen, the dollar was flat at 158.84 yen.
The Aussie dollar sank 0.7% to $0.7105 after Australian employment unexpectedly fell in April, while the jobless rate jumped to the highest since late 2021.
Flash PMI data showed activity in the country's service industry slowed to 47.7 in May from 50.7 a month earlier, though a corresponding manufacturing gauge held at 50.2, just above the mark separating expansion from contraction.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve's 28-29 April meeting showed policymakers' concerns about inflation intensified last month, with a growing number open to the possibility that they may need to raise interest rates.
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Saudi civil defence sent an all-clear on Saturday after issuing alerts for a second time for potential danger in Riyadh and the city of Al-Kharj east of the capital, amid an uptick in attacks by Iran-aligned Houthis on the Gulf country.
Houthi attacks target Riyadh amid concerns over Saudi oil supplies, as Iran says it will not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until its conditions are met and U.S. commitments are implemented, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday.
The U.S. State Department approved a $2.7 billion military sale to Ukraine for air-defence development upgrades, along with related equipment and services, the department said. Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported at least 10 people had died in Russian attacks over the last 24 hours.
The death toll from an overnight Russian attack on the Kyiv region rose to four, including three children, Kyiv regional authorities said on Sunday. A mother and her two 3-year-old children were killed when a Russian drone strike hit a private home, the emergency service said.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that additional news organisations could be barred from the White House, hours after announcing bans on CNN, MS NOW and Politico over coverage he described as “fake news”.
Warren Buffett has stepped down as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, marking the end of one of the most influential leadership tenures in corporate history and completing a succession process that has been years in the making.
Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote launched Africa's biggest-ever share sale on Monday, opening the oil refinery that has remade the country's fuel market to public ownership for the first time.
Volkswagen’s supervisory board has approved a major overhaul aimed at cutting 100,000 jobs by 2030 as the German carmaker battles weaker sales, falling profits and intensifying global competition.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang has called on American companies to expand their presence in China and pledged that Beijing would address their "reasonable concerns," as China looks to stabilise trade ties with Washington ahead of President Xi Jinping's planned visit to the U.S. later this month
Apple is entering a new era as Tim Cook steps down as chief executive after 15 years at the helm, handing the technology giant's leadership to longtime executive John Ternus.
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