Asia markets rise as hopes of U.S.-Iran deal boost Wall Street benchmarks

Asia-Pacific markets open broadly higher Thursday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street as hopes of a U.S.-Iran deal grew.

Stocks have rallied this week on the possibility of a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran. The S&P 500, which fully recovered from its Iran war losses on Monday, has risen 3% this week. The Nasdaq and Dow, meanwhile, have added around 5% and more than 1%, respectively.

Investors will also be focusing on China’s first-quarter GDP data.

The Iran war is “very close to over,” President Donald Trump said in a Fox Business interview that aired on Wednesday, again claiming that Tehran wants to “make a deal very badly.”

A White House official told CNBC on Tuesday that a second round of negotiations between Washington and Iran is under discussion. According to the official, who asked not to be named to discuss the administration’s plans, said nothing has been officially scheduled yet.

Oil was marginally lower. The West Texas Intermediate slipped 0.11% at $91.19 per barrel as of 9:30 p.m. ET. International benchmark Brent crude declined 0.13% at $94.81 per barrel.

South Korea’s Kospi advanced 1.74% while the small-cap Kosdaq was 1.09% higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.58%, while the Topix gained 1.06%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was flat.

Mainland China’s CSI 300 index was rose 0.3%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 0.72%.

S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures both traded around the flatline. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 45 points, or 0.1%.

Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 gained 0.80%, ending at 7,022.95. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.59% to 24,016.02, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 72.27 points, or 0.15%, to close at 48,463.72.

Both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed at records, with the tech-heavy index posting an 11th-day win streak and the broad market benchmark notching its 10th positive session out of 11.

— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Sean Conlon contributed to this report.