TOKYO — Global shares mostly rose in Wednesday trading, boosted by optimism about artificial intelligence and computer chips despite ongoing worries about the war in Iran.
France’s CAC 40 gained 0.3 per cent in early trading to 8,056.35, while the German DAX edged up 0.7 per cent to 25,569.01. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose nearly 0.7 per cent to 10,706.17.
U.S. shares were set to drift higher with Dow futures rising 0.5 per cent to 51,940.00. S&P 500 futures gained 0.3 per cent to 7,755.25.
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9 per cent to finish at 66,753.72. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.9 per cent to 8,789.30. South Korea’s Kospi reversed earlier gains and fell 0.5 per cent at 6,838.04. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.4 per cent to 24,613.10, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.3 per cent to 3,842.19.
SoftBank Group Corp., which invests in OpenAI, surged more than 6 per cent in Tokyo trading. Also gaining were Japanese chip-related stocks like Renesas Electronics and Rohm Co.
Oil prices are swinging sharply as the U.S. war with Iran drags on, helping to push Treasury yields to their highest levels in 24 years.
Benchmark U.S. crude shed 0.3 per cent to US$89.11 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, edged down 0.3 per cent to $102.29 a barrel. Brent is well above the roughly $72 it cost before the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February.
Mediators continued to work with the United States and Iran on reaching a deal to end the fighting and open the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump over the weekend rejected an offer from Tehran to reopen the key waterway.
Wall Street will see several big economic updates this week that could help investors and the Federal Reserve get a better sense of where inflation is headed.
U.S. inflation rates have remained stubbornly above 3 per cent most of the year, well above the Fed’s target rate of 2 per cent. Wall Street expects the central bank to raise its benchmark interest rate again at its next meeting in October.
“While it is easy to focus on the macroeconomic headwinds of bond yields and oil, the underlying U.S. economy remains remarkably resilient,” said Tina Teng, market analyst at Moomoo, a global financial technology and online brokerage company.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar declined to 156.93 Japanese yen from 157.27 yen. The euro cost $1.1352, up from $1.1347.
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Yuri Kageyama, The Associated Press
