Asian shares gain with most markets closed for May Day while oil holds steady at USD 111 per barrel

Tokyo, May 1 (AP) Shares gained in Asia on Friday, though many markets in the region were closed for May Day holidays.
     Brent crude's price held steady at USD 111.66 per barrel while US benchmark crude oil added 46 cents to USD 105.53 a barrel.
     Prospects for a deal to cement a three-week ceasefire in the Iran war remained clouded as Iran's supreme leader said it will protect its nuclear and missile capabilities as a national asset.
     In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.7 per cent to 59,687.65 as the Japanese yen gained against the US dollar.
     The dollar bought 157.16 yen, up from 156.61 yen late Thursday. But that was well below the 160 yen level hit on Thursday.
     Australia's S&P/ASX 200 surged 1 per cent to 8,750.40.
     US futures were higher after US stocks motored to more records Thursday on strong profits for Alphabet, Caterpillar and other big businesses. The gains came after the latest whipsaw moves for oil prices, which surged toward their highest levels since the war with Iran began, only to quickly regress.
     The S&P 500 rallied 1 per cent and topped its prior all-time high to close out its best month in more than five years. It closed at 7,209.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average leapt 1.6 per cent to 49,652.14, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.9 per cent to a record of 24,892.31.
     Alphabet led the way and rallied 10 per cent after the owner of Google and YouTube reported profit for the latest quarter that almost doubled analysts' expectations. Investments in artificial intelligence “are lighting up every part of the business,” CEO Sundar Pichai said.
     It's the latest company to deliver fatter profits for the start of 2026 than analysts expected, even with very high oil prices and uncertainty about the economy.
     Friday brought some calm to the oil market, where prices surged on Thursday on worries over the potential long-term impact of the war on the flow of crude. Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, keeping them pent up in the Persian Gulf and away from customers worldwide, while a US Navy blockade is preventing Iran from selling its own oil.
     Traders are buying and selling contracts for different kinds of oil, going out for many months. In the most actively traded part of the market for Brent crude, for delivery in July, the price rose as high as USD 114.70 per barrel, fell back toward USD 107 and settled at USD 110.40 on Thursday, nearly unchanged from the day before.
     So far during the war, the peak price for the most actively traded Brent contract has been USD 119.50, which was set last month.
     In a less actively traded corner of the Brent market, the price for a barrel to be delivered in June briefly went above USD 126 overnight before pulling back toward USD 114.
     Brent's price was roughly USD 70 before the war.
     In share trading, Caterpillar soared 9.9 per cent, Eli Lilly jumped 9.8 per cent, and O'Reilly Automotive leapt 8.4 per cent after all delivered profits for the latest quarter that topped analysts' expectations. That's big because stock prices tend to follow the track of corporate profits over the long term.
     Meta Platforms tumbled 8.7 per cent even though the company behind Facebook and Instagram made more profit last quarter than expected. Investors focused more on its increased forecast for how much it will spend on data centres and other investments as it builds out its AI capabilities.
     Doubts are still high among some investors about whether all the spending on AI will produce enough profit and productivity to make it worth it.
     Microsoft fell 3.9 per cent after likewise raising its forecast for investments and other capital spending.
     Amazon rose 0.8 per cent after swinging between gains and losses through the day. It blew past analysts' expectations for earnings in the latest quarter.
     In the bond market, Treasury yields eased after oil prices fell back. Reports also suggested the US economy's growth accelerated by less in the first three months of the year than economists expected, while a measure of inflation worsened in March by about as much as expected.
     A separate report said that fewer US workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, an indication of fewer layoffs, even though companies are announcing large cuts to workforces.
     London's FTSE 100 jumped 1.6 per cent after the Bank of England kept its main interest rate on hold. That followed similar decisions by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday and the Bank of Japan on Tuesday to keep their rates unchanged. (AP) SKS
SKS

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)