Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday, AP reported. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 added 1.5% to finish at 19,429.44, while South Korea's Kospi rose 1.1% to 1,914.73. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost earlier gains to inch down nearly 0.1% to 5,217.10. Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.6% to 24,036.84, while the Shanghai Composite inched down 0.1% to 2,839.87. Benchmark crude added $1.58 to $15.36 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The price of a barrel of U.S. oil to be delivered in June jumped 19% to settle at $13.78 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose $2.13 cents to $22.50 per barrel. The dollar rose to 107.82 Japanese yen from 107.71 yen Wednesday. The euro fell to $1.0818 from $1.0822.
