United States stocks closed higher on Thursday (Friday AEST), while oil prices retreated, as investors returned to technology shares and looked past renewed military tensions in the Middle East.
The three major Wall Street indices all finished in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 139.0 points, or 0.3%, to 52,487.4, the S&P 500 gained 60.9 points, or 0.8%, to 7,543.6, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 336.2 points, or 1.3%, to 26,206.9.
The gains came despite fresh military action in the Gulf, with the U.S. and Iran both announcing strikes as their fragile interim peace agreement showed signs of unravelling.
Oil prices, which had surged after U.S. strikes were announced on Wednesday, pulled back as traders assessed the latest developments, even as shipping activity through the strategically important Strait of Hormuz slowed again.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled 2.3% lower at US$71.83 a barrel, while Brent crude fell 2.5% to US$76.05 a barrel.
Investor sentiment was supported by reports that China may grant domestic artificial intelligence companies limited access to Nvidia's H200 chips. Optimism was further boosted after reports that SK Hynix's upcoming US$28 billion U.S. listing was more than seven times oversubscribed.
The offering is expected to become the world's second-largest share sale, behind SpaceX's record-breaking US$85.7 billion IPO last month.
Among individual companies, Micron Technology jumped more than 7% after announcing plans to invest up to US$3 billion to strengthen the U.S. semiconductor supply chain. The stock also benefited from broader strength across the semiconductor sector.
Paramount Skydance fell 6% after Reuters reported that several U.S. states are preparing an antitrust lawsuit over the company's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, citing two people familiar with the matter.
Among economic releases, the Labor Department said initial jobless claims fell by 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 215,000 in the week ended 4 July, pointing to continued resilience in the labour market and just slightly below market expectations of 218,000.
Separate data from the National Association of Realtors showed existing home sales unexpectedly declined 2.4% last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.09 million units, missing expectations for a rise to 4.20 million.
Tight housing inventory continued to push home prices to record highs, highlighting ongoing affordability pressures.
On the bond markets, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury was down 0.7% at 4.549%, while the 2-year Treasury yield was 1% lower at 4.174%.
