World Shares Decline on War Worries    03/13 04:48

   World shares retreated on Friday while oil prices again popped above $100 
per barrel as anxiety remained over the Iran war and its impact on supplies of 
crude oil and gas.

   HONG KONG (AP) -- World shares retreated on Friday while oil prices again 
popped above $100 per barrel as anxiety remained over the Iran war and its 
impact on supplies of crude oil and gas.

   U.S. futures slipped, with the futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones 
Industrial Average down 0.3%.

   In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.7% to 10,235.29. 
Germany's DAX lost 1% to 23,345.90, while France's CAC 40 dropped 1.2% to 
7,887.18.

   In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index slipped 1.2% to 53,819.61. 
Technology-related stocks saw some of the bigger losses, with SoftBank Group 
falling 4.5%.

   South Korea's Kospi fell 1.7% to 5,487.24.

   Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1% to 25,465.60, while the Shanghai Composite 
index was down 0.8% at 4,095.45.

   Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% lower to 8,617.10.

   Taiwan's Taiex was trading 0.5% lower, and India's Sensex dropped 1.8%.

   Oil prices held steady as Brent crude, the international standard, traded at 
$101 per barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude was up 0.5% at $96.23 per barrel.

   On Thursday, Iran's new Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, in his 
first public statements, vowed Iran would keep fighting and continue to use the 
Strait of Hormuz -- a crucial waterway for oil and gas transport which has been 
effectively closed with significant marine traffic disruptions -- as leverage 
against the U.S. and Israel.

   Roughly 20% of the world's oil is estimated to flow through the strait, and 
attacks on ships in or around the strait have already heightened concerns "over 
the scale of supply disruption and persistent shipping bottlenecks," wrote 
analysts at Mizuho Bank in a commentary.

   The remarks from Iran's new leader came after U.S. President Donald Trump 
said the war was "very complete," which have raised worries over how much 
longer the tensions could last. Intense strikes hit Iran's capital Tehran 
Friday morning.

   Oil prices have been volatile since the Iran war began. While the 
International Energy Agency said Wednesday its members would make a record 400 
million barrels of oil available from their emergency reserves, some economists 
believe that would do little to reassure markets.

   Global inflation will likely worsen as oil prices jump, and rising fuel 
costs are already starting to hurt consumers globally. Rising energy prices 
could also, for example, push up AI and chip development and production costs, 
some analysts say.

   Wall Street recorded losses Thursday following volatile swings this month. 
The S&P 500 dropped 1.5% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.6%. The 
Nasdaq composite shed 1.8%.

   Shares at some of the companies heavily reliant on fuel costs saw bigger 
drops. Cruise-ship operator Carnival fell 7.9%, and United Airlines sank 4.6%.

   In other dealings early Friday, gold and silver prices fell. The price of 
gold fell 0.8% to $5,082.70 an ounce, and the price of silver dropped 3.2% to 
$82.38 per ounce.

   The U.S. dollar rose to 159.43 Japanese yen from 159.34 yen. The euro was 
trading at $1.1449, down from $1.1512.