The Nikkei was up almost 3.5 percent around midday while Seoul’s chip-heavy Kospi soared close to eight percent

Asian stocks gained and oil dropped Friday after US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of further strikes on Iran and said a deal could be signed in the coming days.

Iran’s position remained unclear however, with foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei saying Tehran had not reached a final conclusion on the agreement.

Donald Trump’s rhetoric flipped intraday from strike risk and hard language toward no immediate attack, high-level diplomacy with Iran and talk of a deal being close enough to sign as soon as this weekend in Europe, with Vice President expected to attend, said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.

The Bank of Japan meets next week.

With inflation pressures continuing to build, there will almost certainly still be a majority in favour of a BOJ rate hike, said Abhijit Surya at Capital Economics.

In Asia, the Nikkei was up almost 3.5 percent around midday while Seoul’s chip-heavy Kospi soared close to eight percent. The Hang Seng and Shanghai also rallied.

Brent crude was down around more than one percent.

Elsewhere, The European Central Bank raised interest rates for the first time since 2023 after the Iran war sent oil and gas prices soaring.

U.S. stock market rallied and oil prices tumbled Thursday after the president’s comments, with the broad-based S&P 500 closing up 1.8 percent.

Markets see a rising chance that the central bank will also raise interest rates.

investors were also awaiting the market debut later Friday of SpaceX, set to be the biggest initial public offering in history.