MANILA, Philippines, Oct 9, (AP): Asian shares were mostly higher on Thursday after US stocks hit records again following a brief stumble. Markets in mainland China gained more than 1% as they reopened following a weeklong holiday, while US futures were mixed. Oil prices fell back, then recovered to trade flat after Israel and Hamas agreed Wednesday to pause fighting in Gaza so that the remaining hostages there can be freed in the coming days in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The acceptance of elements of a plan put forward by the Trump administration represents the biggest breakthrough in months in the devastating two-year-old war and reduced risks in the volatile region. US benchmark crude added 2 cents to $62.57 per barrel as of Thursday afternoon. Brent crude, the international standard, edged up 4 cents to $66.29 per barrel.

Gold shed some of its stellar gains but was still at $4,055.80 per ounce as of Thursday afternoon. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.8% to 48,572.67. Technology giant SoftBank Group surged over 11% after it announced a $5.4 billion deal to acquire the robotics unit of Swiss engineering firm ABB. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged down less than 0.1% to 26,821.93, while the Shanghai Composite index added 1.2% to 3,929.32 in its first trading session since Oct 1.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 edged up nearly 0.3% to 8,969.80 while Taiwan's Taiex pared earlier bigger gains, closing 0.9% higher. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the world’s largest contract chipmaker, on Thursday reported its third-quarter revenue climbed 30% year-on-year, beating market forecasts. Its shares gained 1.8%.

On Wednesday, Wall Street resumed climbing and the price of gold pushed further past $4,000 per ounce. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 6,735.72, another record, a day after snapping a seven-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged less than 0.1% lower to 46,601.78, while the Nasdaq composite rose 1.1% to its own record of 23,043.38.