Asian shares were mostly higher on Wednesday after U.S. stocks slipped a bit further from their records, while oil prices advanced as doubts persisted over when the war with Iran will allow crude to flow freely again.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.6% to 67334.94. In South Korea, the Kospi gained 4% to 6,597.90 on renewed buying of computer chipmakers. Samsung Electronics gained 7.7% and memory chipmaker SK Hynix was up 7.1%.
Taiwan’s Taiex advanced 0.8%. The Shanghai Composite index added 0.3% to 3,946.51, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 1.2% to 25,352.13. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.6% to 9,197.00.
Oil Prices
The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, was up 0.9% at $89.67 early Wednesday. U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 0.9% to $83.98.
The United States and Israel attacked Iran in late February, which led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and kept much of the world’s oil pent up in the Middle East. Last month alone, Brent’s price veered between $72 and $102 per barrel.
An attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, at Yemen’s southern tip, has raised concerns that the violence could reignite civil war and further threaten regional shipping routes.
Inflation Concerns
Higher oil prices make inflation worse, and they have sent the average cost for a gallon of regular gasoline to $4.01, according to AAA. That’s up from less than $3.14 a year ago.
The U.S. government will release the latest monthly reading on inflation on Wednesday. Economists expect it to show inflation slipped to 3.4% in July from 3.5% in June.
Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.
