-- Australian shares were flat with a positive bias on Thursday's close as investors raised doubts around US-Iran ceasefire talks following Israel's attack on Lebanon.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed to close at 8,973.20.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker, said on Wednesday that the US already violated key elements of a proposed framework for talks, adding that a ceasefire or negotiations now look "unreasonable."
"You have a fifth of the world's oil supply moving through a corridor that is still effectively under the influence of one of the parties to the conflict, that's not stability," said Nigel Green, CEO at deVere Group, as quoted by Reuters.
"You don't need a full blockade to move oil markets sharply higher again, missiles are still being launched in the Gulf, Israel is still engaged on another front, and yet markets are behaving as though the region has normalized," Green added.
In company news, Nickel Industries (ASX:NIC) said mining operations have restarted at the Hengjaya mine in Indonesia after a Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources probe.
Ampol (ASX:ALD, NZE:ALD) and Viva Energy (ASX:VEA) have signed new agreements to bring more fuel shipments into Australia.
Lastly, Ardea Resources' (ASX:ARL) Kalgoorlie nickel project in Western Australia was selected by the Australian government as part of its Investor Front Door's first pilot projects.