Shares are mostly higher in Asia, with Kospi up 3.7%, while oil prices
gain
[August 12, 2026] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher 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 0.8% to 67,524.06.
In South Korea, the Kospi gained 3.7% to 6,579.04 on renewed buying of
computer chipmakers. Samsung Electronics gained 6.7% and memory
chipmaker SK Hynix was up 5.5%.
Taiwan's Taiex advanced 0.9%.
The Shanghai Composite index added 0.3% to 3,946.68, while the Hang Seng
in Hong Kong slipped 1% to 25,401.92.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.5% to 9,209.40.
The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, was up
1% at $89.79 early Wednesday. U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 1% to
$84.07.
Iran has rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's comment that since Iran
is seeking compensation as part of any talks on ending the war, he would
demand the same.
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.
Meanwhile 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.
“The renewed hostilities between the US and Iran suggest that a
long-term reduction in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is now the
most likely scenario,” Ben May, director of global macro research at
Oxford Economics, said in a report.
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Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the
Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 12,
2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
 The report forecast that Brent crude
will average $85 a barrel for the rest of this year before gradually
falling to about $65 a barrel by late 2027.
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.
That has Wall Street’s attention focused on Wednesday, when the U.S.
government will release the latest monthly reading on inflation.
Economists expect it to show inflation slipped to 3.4% in July from
3.5% in June.
Tuesday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 0.3% for a second modest
drop since setting its all-time high on Friday. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average dipped 184 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq
composite sank 0.6%.
Cooler inflation could relieve pressure on the Federal Reserve to
raise interest rates to help tamp down price increases. Higher rates
could curb inflation but they also would drag on the overall U.S.
economy by making it more expensive for households and businesses to
borrow money. They also would undercut prices for stocks and other
investments.
Treasury yields have jumped since the war with Iran because of
higher oil prices and worries about inflation, sending long-term
mortgage rates to their highest levels in a year.
In other dealings early Wednesday, the U.S. dollar rose to 159.35
Japanese yen from 159.30 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1537 from
$1.1544.
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