World shares track Wall Street gains and oil prices climb on uncertainty over the Iran war

HONG KONG — World equities surged Friday, with Tokyo's benchmark at a new closing high after small Wall Street advances, while oil prices gained with no sign of movement toward resolving the Iran war.

U.S. futures pushed higher by almost 0.3%.

Britain's FTSE 100 index was up 0.4% at 10,489.09 in early European trading. France's CAC 40 rose 0.5% to 8,124.02, Germany's DAX gained 0.7% to 24,779.16.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 surged 2.7% to 63,339.07, breaking a record high closing set just over a week ago. A survey revealed inflation to be at a four-year low of 1.4% in April, despite increasing oil and gas prices from the war.

South Korea's Kospi climbed 0.4% to 7,847.71.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.9% to 25,606.03 while the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.9% to 4,112.90.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4% to 8,657.00.

Taiwan’s Taiex closed 2.2% up and India’s Sensex gained 0.6%.

Oil prices remained high on interruptions near the Strait of Hormuz, an important transit point for oil and gas, where shipping activity remains significantly below pre-Iran war levels in late February. The uncertainty is compounded by the protracted talks between the U.S. and Iran.

Brent crude, the worldwide benchmark, rose 2.8% to $105.48 a barrel. It was trading at around $70 per barrel in February before the war. Benchmark U.S. crude was up 2.3% at $98.58 a barrel.

Republicans in Congress on Thursday delayed until June planned votes to reject legislation that would force President Donald Trump to withdraw from the conflict.

The House was supposed to vote Thursday on a war powers resolution offered by Democrats to curtail Trump’s military campaign. But when it became obvious Republicans wouldn't have the numbers to pass the bill, GOP leaders refused to bring it to a vote.

“Markets are still looking for progress on a potential US and Iran deal,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said in a report on Friday. “Signs of optimism, but also a lot of uncertainty.

Wall Street was up Thursday. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%.

Nvidia shares declined 1.8% despite the company’s quarterly results beating expectations on the artificial intelligence frenzy, with some analysts saying its share price is still undervalued.

Oil prices fell before rebounding, lifting Southwest Airlines 2.7% and American Airlines 4.9%. Ralph Lauren jumped 13.9 percent on better-than-expected quarterly results.

Oil prices fell and the bond market eased pressure with falling yields. The yields that surged earlier this week rose so high they threatened to stall economies around the world and depress prices for stocks, bitcoin and all kinds of other investments.

In other trading Friday, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.56%, down from over 4.67% earlier in the week when greater global inflationary pressures from the war sent bond yields higher.

The U.S. dollar was firmer at 159.09 Japanese yen from 158.98 yen. The euro was at $1.1608, down from $1.1619.