BANGKOK — Shares were mixed Wednesday in Europe and Asia ahead of the release of key U.S. inflation data for July, while oil prices advanced as doubts persisted over when the war with Iran will allow crude to flow freely again. The future for the S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was nearly unchanged. In early European trading, Germany’s DAX rose 0.3 per cent to 26,480.04, while the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.2 per cent, to 8,698.79. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.1 per cent lower. During Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.8 per cent to 67,524.06. In South Korea, the Kospi gained 3.7 per cent to 6,579.04 on renewed buying of computer chipmakers. Samsung Electronics gained 6.7 per cent and memory chipmaker SK Hynix was up 5.5 per cent. Taiwan’s Taiex advanced 0.9 per cent. The Shanghai Composite index added 0.3 per cent to 3,946.68, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong slipped 0.8 per cent to 25,440.17. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.5 per cent to 9,209.40. The price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, was up 1 per cent at US$89.79 early Wednesday. U.S. benchmark crude oil picked up 1 per cent 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. 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 per cent in July from 3.5 per cent in June. Tuesday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 0.3 per cent for a second modest drop since setting its all-time high on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 184 points, or 0.3 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite sank 0.6 per cent. 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 slipped to 159.22 Japanese yen from 159.30 yen. The euro was unchanged at $1.1544. Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press
