Oil eases and Asian shares rise as Trump says Iran campaign won't last long

Chipmakers and tech names rise in Tokyo and Seoul trading

Oil prices slipped Thursday while Asian equity benchmarks advanced. Brent crude had climbed earlier in the week on renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran, and President Donald Trump said Wednesday he does not expect the U.S. bombing campaign to last “much longer.”

Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell 0.4 percent to $95.26 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude shed 0.1 percent to $90.84 a barrel.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index added 0.2 percent to close at 64,455.83. Technology and chip-related names were among the biggest gainers on the session: OpenAI investor SoftBank Group rose 2.9 percent, memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings gained 0.6 percent, and chip equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron advanced 0.8 percent.

South Korea’s Kospi added 1.4 percent to 6,656.81, with semiconductor names among the day’s major gainers. Samsung Electronics rose 1.3 percent and memory chipmaker SK Hynix gained 1.4 percent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged 0.1 percent higher to 25,344.80.

Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite climbed 0.4 percent to 3,958.79.

U.S. stock futures pointed higher in Asian-afternoon trade, extending the gains on Wall Street from the previous session.