Frank Fell\/robertharding | Collection Mix: Subjects | Getty Images<\/p>\n
Asia-Pacific markets opened mixed as investors remained cautious despite a three-week extension of the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire, underscoring lingering geopolitical uncertainty.<\/p>\n
Israel<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Lebanon<\/a>\u00a0agreed to extend their\u00a0ceasefire<\/a>\u00a0by three weeks following a meeting in the\u00a0White House<\/a>\u00a0with top U.S. officials, President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0said Thursday.<\/p>\n “The Meeting went very well!” Trump said in a\u00a0Truth Social post<\/a>\u00a0announcing the extension of the temporary truce.<\/p>\n The temporary truce, originally set to expire after 10 days<\/a>, will now provide additional time for diplomatic efforts, with Washington also pledging to work with Lebanon to strengthen its defenses against Hezbollah.<\/p>\n U.S.\u00a0oil futures rose about 1.23% to around $97.03 per barrel.<\/p>\n Japan’s Nikkei 225<\/a> rose 0.71% while the Topix rose 0.30% after core inflation in Japan accelerated for the first time in five months, rising to 1.8% in March, with Iran war fueling energy worries.<\/p>\n Government data showed the inflation figure \u2014 which strips out prices of fresh food \u2014 was in line with the 1.8% expected by economists polled by Reuters, and was higher than the 1.6% seen in February.<\/p>\n South Korea’s Kospi<\/a> fell 0.23%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was trading flat..<\/p>\n Hong Kong Hang Seng index<\/a> futures were at 25,802, lower than the index’s last close of 25,915.2.<\/p>\n In Australia, the\u00a0S&P\/ASX 200<\/a> was down 0.29%.<\/p>\n Overnight in the U.S., stocks pulled back on Thursday, led by a drop in software shares and higher oil prices, as investor uncertainty about the trajectory of the Iran war weighed on markets.<\/p>\n The\u00a0S&P 500<\/a>\u00a0traded down 0.41% to close at 7,108.40, after earlier hitting a new all-time intraday high. The tech-heavy\u00a0Nasdaq Composite<\/a>\u00a0declined 0.89% to finish at 24,438.50. It had also scored a new all-time high in the session. The\u00a0Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a>\u00a0lost 179.71 points, or 0.36%, to finish at 49,310.32.<\/p>\n \u2014CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie contributed to this report.<\/p>\n