Shares were mixed in Asia on Tuesday, while oil prices extended their gains after surging a day earlier, as uncertainty over when the Strait of Hormuz could reopen continued to influence markets.
Brent crude oil rose 1.5% to USD 89.01 a barrel, while US benchmark crude gained 1.7% to USD 83.54. Brent had jumped 5% on Monday after swinging sharply last month between USD 72 and USD 102 as hopes for a US-Iran agreement fluctuated.
US stock futures edged lower, while Asian markets remained uneven after Wall Street moved away from its recent record highs.
Asian stocks trade mixed
South Korea's Kospi gained 0.7% to 6,345.53, helped by a 4.1% rise in Samsung Electronics. SK Hynix also advanced 0.4%.
“The wild swings of recent weeks, driven by waxing and waning hopes for a lasting boost to corporate profits from artificial intelligence, have abated in the past several days.”
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng declined 1% to 25,677.11, while Shanghai's Composite index fell 0.9% to 3,932.93. Taiwan's Taiex rose 0.4%.
Tokyo markets were closed for a holiday.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 9,250.60 after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4.35%. India's Sensex slipped 0.6%.
Wall Street rally loses momentum
US stocks ended slightly lower on Monday. The S&P 500 fell 0.1% from Friday's record, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.1% and the Nasdaq composite lost 0.3%.
Berkshire Hathaway rose 1.5% after reporting stronger quarterly profit than analysts had expected. MarineMax surged 46.1% following its agreement to be acquired by a Blackstone portfolio company for about USD 1.5 billion.
Varex Imaging jumped 48.8% after Teledyne Technologies announced plans to acquire it for USD 18.90 per share.
Intel, however, dropped 4.1% after saying it could sell USD 15 billion of stock to raise funds for investments linked to AI spending.
Inflation data in focus
The key event for Wall Street this week is Wednesday's July inflation report. Economists expect inflation to ease to 3.4% from 3.5% in June.
A softer reading could reduce pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates. Higher rates can help contain inflation but also make borrowing more expensive and weigh on economic activity and asset prices.
Dollar, gold move
The US dollar slipped to 159.20 Japanese yen from 159.30 yen, while the euro declined to USD 1.1536 from USD 1.1544.
Gold, often viewed as a hedge during periods of uncertainty, edged 0.1% higher to USD 4,425.50 an ounce.