Asian shares are mixed and US futures edge higher after Wall Street steadies

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Friday after Wall Street broke a two-day losing streak and edged back toward record levels, helped by advances for Big Tech companies like Nvidia.U.S. futures advanced and oil prices slipped. Tech shares regained momentum after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a major supplier to the industry, reported strong profits and investment plans. TSMC gained 2.7% early Friday and Taiwan’s benchmark Taiex was up 2%.The frenzy around AI has sent Nvidia and other superstar stocks to dizzying heights, stirring criticism that their prices had shot too high. Nvidia rose 2.1% after TSMC’s Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said it’s seeing “continued strong demand” in an encouraging signal for the entire AI industry.TSMC’s stock that trades in the United States rose 4.4% on Thursday. The gains also followed the signing of a U.S.-Taiwan trade deal involving $250 billion in new investments by Taiwan’s semiconductor and tech companies in the U.S. In exchange, the Trump administration will cut tariffs on Taiwanese goods. The deal aims to establish a strategic economic partnership and upgrade U.S. industrial infrastructure.In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 edged 0.1% lower to 54,062.28, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gave up 0.3% to 26,851.69. The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.2% to 4,103.45.China is due to report its economic growth data for 2025 on Monday. Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.4% to 4,814.21. The benchmark has been trading at record highs for weeks, helped by a recovery in confidence in AI-related shares. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.4% at 8,895.00. India’s Sensex also rose 0.4%. Wall Street steadied on Thursday as stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry bounced back.The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 6,944.47. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.6% to 49.442.44, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to 23,530.02.Easing oil prices also helped to calm investors’ jitters. Early Friday, a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude cost $58.96, down 12 cents from a day earlier. It sank 4.6% on Thursday after Trump said he had heard “on good authority” that plans for executions in Iran had stopped amid widespread protests against the country’s leadership.Brent crude, the international standard, fell 16 cents to $63.60 per barrel. It dropped 4.1% on Thursday. Financial markets took Trump’s comments as a signal that tensions flaring above some of the world’s largest oil deposits could ease, which in turn could lower the possibility of disruptions to oil supplies. Earnings reporting season for big U.S. companies continued to pick up pace, meanwhile, with several more big financial companies delivering their results for the last three months of 2025.BlackRock, the giant that’s now overseeing more than $14 trillion in investments, rose 5.9% after reporting stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected.Encouraging reports on the U.S. economy contributed to the upbeat mood.One said fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week in an indication layoffs may be slowing. Other reports said manufacturing was significantly stronger in the mid-Atlantic region and in New York state than economists had forecast. The stronger-than-expected data on the U.S. economy helped stocks of smaller companies to lead the market. Their profits can be tied more closely to the strength of the U.S. economy than their bigger, multinational rivals, and the Russell 2000 index rose 0.9%.In other dealings early Friday, the U.S. dollar fell to 158.27 Japanese yen from 158.63 yen. The euro rose to $1.1610 from $1.1609.