Crude futures settle lower

Oil prices fell on Thursday.

The West Texas Intermediate for July delivery decreased by 2.32 U.S. dollars, or 2.58 percent, to settle at 87.71 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for August delivery lost 2.72 dollars, or 2.92 percent, to settle at 90.38 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.

Japanese shares closed higher on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 back above 66,000 points due to the stimulation from the tech sector and expected measures from the central bank, said Timothy Pope, a market analyst for China Global Television Network (CGTN).

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended up 1,802.77 points, or 2.81 percent, from Thursday at 66,020.04.

The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 51.61 points, or 1.35 percent, higher at 3,881.96.

On the top-tier Prime Market, nonferrous metal, machinery, and iron and steel issues were notable gainers.

The Nikkei briefly topped the 67,000 mark for the first time in more than a week, after reports surfaced that the United States and Iran are likely to sign an agreement over the next few days, restoring hopes for an end to the Middle East conflict.

Analysts said that apart from the Middle East situation, the market gain was also spurred by the tech surge around the recent move of U.S. tech giant Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX).

SpaceX has priced its initial public offering (IPO) at 135 U.S. dollars per share and raised 75 billion dollars through the sale of about 555.56 million shares, U.S. media reported Thursday.

"The Nikkei 225 added 2.8 percent today to close back above 66,000 points, but it remains down about 0.8 percent for the week, ending a three-week winning streak for the index. The continued AI, Space, satellite hype surrounding the SpaceX IPO spurred some gains for the Japanese tech majors like Advantest which was up 8.5 percent. And on the economic front there's a Bank of Japan meeting scheduled for next week where the expectation is that the central bank will lift interest rates to a 31-year high of 1 percent, up from 0.75 percent. That drove Japanese bank stocks higher today as well," Pope said.