Oil prices ease and Asian shares are mixed as energy supply worries over Iran war remain

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HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mixed on Friday following Wall Street losses, and oil prices pared earlier gains on the intensifying Iran war, falling back to around $107 a barrel. U.S. futures were higher.

Oil prices had a roller-coaster day on Thursday with the Brent crude, the international standard, briefly surging to around $119 per barrel as attacks by Iran on oil and gas facilities around the Gulf escalated after Israel's attack of Iran’s key natural gas field.

In early Friday trading, Brent crude fell 1.6% to $106.90 a barrel, following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks that he would hold off on further attacks on Iran's gas field at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump. Benchmark U.S. crude was down 2% to $93.63 a barrel.

The Iran war, which is in its third week, have sent energy prices soaring and is fueling global inflation worries. Concerns are also growing over the supply of oil and gas with the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for the energy supply located between Iran and Oman, largely closed. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday floated the possibility of lifting its sanctions on Iranian oil at sea in a potential attempt to ease oil prices.

The retreat of oil prices helped stablize markets. In Asian markets, South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6% to 5,798.23. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was closed on Friday on a holiday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.6% to 25,340.43, while the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.2% to 4,013.16.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.5%, while Taiwan’s Taiex was trading 0.2% lower.

On Thursday, Wall Street reported modest losses. The S&P 500 was down 0.3% to 6,606.49. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4% to 46,021.43, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower at 22,090.69.

Shares of U.S. memory chip maker Micron Technology were down 3.8% even though the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results. Its shares were still up roughly 330% over the past year on a worldwide memory shortage.

In other dealings early Friday, gold and silver prices gained. Gold fell below $4,700 earlier, partly on inflation worries. On Friday, gold prices gained 2.6% to $4,727.20 per ounce. Silver prices rose 4.2% to $74.22 an ounce, also recovering from an earlier dip.

The U.S. dollar rose to 158.38 Japanese yen from 157.76 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1558, down from $1.1589.

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AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed.