Markets and oil prices react to Trump’s claims of a breakthrough in peace talks with Iran

World shares advanced on Friday, tracking big Wall Street gains, while oil prices sank more than 4% after U.S. President Donald Trump claimed there was a breakthrough in talks to end the Iran war.High oil prices have added to inflationary pressures globally as the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for the world’s oil and gas transit, remained largely closed.Expectations that an agreement between the U.S. and Iran may help reopen the strait sent oil prices tumbling.Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell 4.5% to $86.31 per barrel. That was still much higher than the roughly $70 a barrel level it was at before the war began in late February.Benchmark U.S. crude shed 4.3% to $83.90 a barrel.In share trading, the future for the S&P 500 was 0.2% higher, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.4%.Investors in the U.S. and elsewhere were awaiting the debut Friday on Wall Street of SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, which is set to become the largest IPO on record, raising around $75 billion.In early European trading, Germany’s DAX picked up 1.8% to 24,654.78, while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 1.9% to 8,356.38. Britain’s FTSE 100 added 1.2% to 10,428.98, despite official data that showed its economy contracted by 0.1% in April.Asian markets logged bigger gains.South Korea’s Kospi jumped 4.6% to 8,123.62, narrowing losses from earlier this month from sell-offs of shares related to artificial intelligence. The Kospi has nearly doubled over the past six months, with a record closing high of 8,801.49 on June 2.Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s most valuable company, advanced 7.9%. Computer chipmaker SK Hynix rose 2.3%.Tokyo’s Nikkei’s 225 gained 2.8% to 66,020.04, also led by gains for technology stocks. SoftBank Group, a multinational investment holding company with a strong AI focus, was up 1.5%. Chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron jumped 7.3%.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.7% to 24,658.91 and the