Asian shares advance and oil prices fall as Israel and Hamas agree to pause fighting

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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher on Thursday after US stocks hit records again following a brief stumble.

Markets in mainland China gained more than 1% as they reopened following a weeklong holiday, while U.S. futures declined.

Oil prices fell back after Israel and Hamas agreed Wednesday to pause fighting in Gaza so that the remaining hostages there can be freed in the coming days in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The acceptance of elements of a plan put forward by the Trump administration represents the biggest breakthrough in months in the devastating two-year-old war and reduced risks in the volatile region.

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.

Gold shed some of its stellar gains but was still at $4,048.20 per ounce as of Thursday morning.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.3% to 48,369.90 as SoftBank Group surged over 11% amid its further expansion into artificial intelligence.

On Wednesday, SoftBank announced a $5.4 billion deal to acquire the robotics unit of Swiss engineering firm ABB.

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.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up 0.2% to 8,965.90 while Taiwan's Taiex rose 1.3%.

On Wednesday, Wall Street resumed climbing and the price of gold pushed further past $4,000 per ounce.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 6,735.72, another record, a day after snapping a seven-day winning streak. 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.

Trading has been relatively muted recently following the U.S. government’s latest shutdown. The closure is delaying the release 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, one of the major reasons the stock market has surged since April.

Another force that’s pushed the market to records is the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.

Advanced Micro Devices jumped another 11.4% to add to its rally from earlier in the week, when it announced an AI-related deal. AMD was the best performing stock in the S&P 500.

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%.

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.

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.

The performances have been so strong that criticism is rising about prices having gone too far, like they did during the 2000 dot-com mania. That bubble ultimately imploded, and the S&P 500 halved in value.

In other dealings early Thursday, the U.S. dollar fell to 152.57 Japanese yen from 152.70 yen. The euro rose to $1.1646 from $1.1629.

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AP Business Writers Stan Choe, Matt Ott and Kelvin Chan contributed.