Asian shares mixed and US futures fall as Iran talks make progress

Hong Kong: Asian stocks were mixed Monday with markets in Japan and South Korea trading higher, while oil prices edged lower on fresh optimism over progress in U.S.-Iran negotiations. U.S. futures were trading lower. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.6% to 72,364.82, after reaching a new all-time record of 72,831.73 during intraday trading, helped by technology stocks that were fueled by excitement over the global artificial intelligence boom. Japan’s SoftBank Group, the multinational investment holding company with a strong AI focus, rose 2.4%. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron was up 2.3%. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.4% to 9,084.37 and was trading near its record high levels, led by AI-related shares. Memory chip maker SK Hynix surged 4.7%. "We’re seeing another strong market today,” Neil Newman, managing director and head of strategy at Astris Advisory Japan, said. He cautioned that the Japanese market is "probably getting a little stretched” from an investor’s point of view, "especially with what’s going (on) in the Middle East.” Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1% to 23,690.86, while the Shanghai Composite index was 0.2% higher at 4,098.01. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.1% to 8,822.80. Taiwan’s Taiex rose 2.8%. India’s Sensex was up 0.6%. Oil prices fell as talks progressed over a permanent end to the Iran war. Brent crude, the international standard, was trading 1.4% lower to $79.42 per barrel. It was at roughly $70 a barrel before the start of the war in late February. High-level negotiations in Switzerland between the U.S. and Iran concluded early Monday, with lower-level technical talks set for the rest of the week. Meanwhile, while Iran said the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for oil and gas transport, was shut again over the weekend, the U.S. said that traffic had continued. "Moving towards a more permanent deal will be challenging, with very real risks of a flare-up in hostilities,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a commentary on Monday. In the U.S., investors are also monitoring May's personal consumption expenditures price index, or PCE, the preferred inflation gauge of the Federal Reserve, which is due to be released this Thursday. In other dealings, the U.S. dollar rose to 161.68 Japanese yen from 161.22 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1454, down from $1.1473.