Asian Shares Rise as Oil Prices Edge Lower

Oil prices edged lower on Thursday, following recent gains, while Asian shares mostly rose in line with Wall Street's advances. Brent crude fell by 1% to $94.69 per barrel, and US crude shed 0.9% to $90.18 a barrel. The decline in oil prices came after the US President Donald Trump said he didn't expect the recent bombing campaign against Iran to last 'much longer'.

The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo fell by 0.2%, while major gainers included SoftBank Group, which rose by 1.6%, and Tokyo Electron, which gained 0.4%. The Kospi in South Korea rose by 0.3%, with Samsung Electronics dipping 0.2%.

Investors welcomed encouraging signals about demand for artificial intelligence from tech companies Dell and Palo Alto Networks. This has been a key driver behind the S&P 500's gains this year, with Nvidia gaining 3.2%, Meta Platforms climbing 2.5%, and Micron Technology rising 2.4%.

The US is set to release an employment report for August on Friday. In other dealings, the Japanese yen strengthened against the US dollar, trading at 156.67 yen early Thursday, down 1.3% from late Wednesday's 158.71 yen.