Oil prices tumbled Friday and equity traders fought to end a volatile week on a positive note after Donald Trump said he would consider over the next two weeks whether to join Israel’s attacks on Iran.Speculation had been swirling that Trump would throw his lot in with Israel, but on Thursday he said he would decide “within the next two weeks” whether to involve the United States, giving diplomacy a shot to end the hostilities.While tensions are sky high amid fears of an escalation, the US president’s remarks suggested the crisis could be prevented from spiralling into all-out war between the Middle East foes.Since Israel first hit Iran last Friday, the two have exchanged deadly strikes and apocalyptic warnings, though observers said the conflict has not seen a critical escalation.European foreign ministers were due to meet their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva.In a statement read out by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the president said: “Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.”Leavitt added: “If there’s a chance for diplomacy the president’s always going to grab it, but he’s not afraid to use strength as well.”Both main oil contracts were down around two percent from Thursday but uncertainty prevailed and traders remained nervous.”Crude still calls the shots, and volatility’s the devil in the room — and every trader on the street knows we’re two headlines away from chaos,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. “Make no mistake: we’re trading a geopolitical powder keg with a lit fuse. “President Trump’s two-week ‘thinking window’ on whether to join Israel’s war against Iran is no cooling-off period — it’s a ticking volatility clock.”Stocks were mixed following a public holiday in New York, with Hong Kong, Taipei, Mumbai and Bangkok all up with London, Paris and Frankfurt.Seoul’s Kospi led the gains, rising more than one percent to break 3,000 points for the first time in nearly three and a half years.The index has risen every day except one since the June 4 election of a new president, which ended months of political crisis and fuelled hopes for an economic rebound.Tokyo fell as Japanese core inflation accelerated, stoked by a doubling in the cost of rice, a hot topic issue that poses a threat to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of elections next month.There were also losses in Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta.The Middle East crisis continues to absorb most of the news but Trump’s trade war remains a major obstacle for investors as the end of a 90-day pause on his April 2 tariff blitz approaches with few governments reaching deals to avert them being imposed.”While the worst of the tariffs have been paused, we suspect it won’t be until those deadlines approach that new agreements may be finalised,” said David Sekera, chief US market strategist at Morningstar.”Until then, as news emerges regarding the progress and substance of trade negotiations, these headlines could have an outsize positive or negative impact on markets.”- Key figures at around 0810 GMT -Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.2 percent at $77.09 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.7 percent at $73.76 per barrelTokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 38,403.23 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 1.3 percent at 23,530.48 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,359.90 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 8,826.06 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1516 from $1.1463 on ThursdayPound/dollar: UP at $1.3476 from $1.3429Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.40 yen from 145.63 yenEuro/pound: UP at 85.45 pence from 85.36 pence

The European Union on Friday banned Chinese firms from government medical device purchases worth more than five million euros ($5.8 million) in retaliation for limits Beijing places on access to its own market.The latest salvo in trade tensions between the 27-nation bloc and China covers a wide range of healthcare supplies, from surgical masks to X-ray machines, that represent a market worth 150 billion euros in the EU.”Our aim with these measures is to level the playing field for EU businesses,” the bloc’s trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic said. “We remain committed to dialogue with China to resolve these issues.”In response, China accused the EU of “double standards”.”The EU has always boasted that it is the most open market in the world, but in reality, it has gradually moved towards protectionism”, foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing. “Under the guise of fair competition (the EU) actually carries out unfair competition, which is a typical case of double standards.”The European Commission said in a statement the move was in “response to China’s longstanding exclusion of EU-made medical devices from Chinese government contracts.”Brussels said just under 90 percent of public procurement contracts for medical devices in China “were subject to exclusionary and discriminatory measures” against EU firms.In addition to barring Chinese firms from major state purchases, “inputs from China for successful bids” would also be limited to 50 percent, it said.Over the last three years, Brussels and Beijing have come into conflict in a number of economic sectors, including electric cars, the rail industry, solar panels and wind turbines.The decision on medical devices comes at a time of heightened trade tensions with President Donald Trump’s United States, which has imposed customs surcharges on imports from all over the world, including Europe.The EU has decided to take a tougher stance on trade in recent years, adopting a vast arsenal of legislation to better defend its businesses against unfair competition.In April 2024, the commission opened an investigation into Chinese public contracts for medical devices, the first under a new mechanism introduced by the EU in 2022 to obtain better access to overseas state purchases. China, on the other hand, accuses Europe of protectionism. After a year of negotiations, the commission, which manages trade policy on behalf of the 27 member states, said it had failed to make any progress with China.”The measure seeks to incentivise China to cease its discrimination against EU firms and EU-made medical devices and treat EU companies with the same openness as the EU does with Chinese companies and products,” Brussels said.