MANILA, Philippines (AP) \u2014 Asian shares were mostly higher on Thursday after US stocks hit records again following a brief stumble.<\/p>\n
Markets in mainland China gained more than 1% as they reopened following a weeklong holiday, while U.S. futures declined.<\/p>\n
Oil prices fell back after Israel and Hamas agreed<\/a> Wednesday to pause fighting in Gaza so that the remaining hostages there can be freed in the coming days in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.<\/p>\n The acceptance of elements of a plan put forward by the Trump administration<\/a> represents the biggest breakthrough in months in the devastating two-year-old war and reduced risks in the volatile region.<\/p>\n U.S. benchmark crude slid 44 cents to $62.11 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 38 cents to $65.87 per barrel.<\/p>\n Gold shed some of its stellar gains but was still at $4,048.20 per ounce as of Thursday morning.<\/p>\n Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.3% to 48,369.90 as SoftBank Group surged over 11% amid its further expansion into artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, SoftBank announced a $5.4 billion deal to acquire the robotics unit of Swiss engineering firm ABB.<\/p>\n Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged up less than 0.1% to 26,840.95, while the Shanghai Composite index added 1.2% to 3,931.07 in its first trading session since Oct. 1.<\/p>\n Australia’s S&P\/ASX 200 edged up 0.2% to 8,965.90 while Taiwan’s Taiex rose 1.3%.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Wall Street resumed climbing and the price of gold pushed further past $4,000 per ounce<\/a>.<\/p>\n The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 6,735.72, another record, a day after snapping a seven-day winning streak<\/a>. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged less than 0.1% lower to 46,601.78, while the Nasdaq composite rose 1.1% to its own record of 23,043.38.<\/p>\n Trading has been relatively muted recently following the U.S. government\u2019s latest shutdown<\/a>. The closure is delaying the release<\/a> of several major economic reports that usually move the market. Stocks have been drifting without them or other signals to change expectations for cuts to interest rates by the Federal Reserve<\/a>, one of the major reasons the stock market has surged since April.<\/p>\n Another force that\u2019s pushed the market to records is the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advanced Micro Devices jumped another 11.4% to add to its rally from earlier in the week, when it announced an AI-related deal<\/a>. AMD was the best performing stock in the S&P 500.<\/p>\n Right behind was Dell Technologies, which piled more gains onto its own rally from Tuesday, when it talked up its growth opportunities related to AI. Dell rose 9.1%.<\/p>\n Poet Technologies climbed 17% and likewise added to its surge from Tuesday, when it said it raised $75 million in investment to accelerate its growth. The company sells high-speed optical engines and other products used in the AI systems market.<\/p>\n AI-related stocks have broadly been on a tear. Nvidia has soared nearly 41% so far this year. Oracle is up 73.2% over the same time, while Palantir Technologies has more than doubled with a nearly 143% surge.<\/p>\n