Shares are mostly higher in Asia, with Kospi up 4%, while oil prices gain

Asian shares were mostly higher on Wednesday after U.S. stocks slipped further from their records, while oil prices advanced as uncertainties lingered about when the conflict with Iran would allow crude to flow freely once more. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.6% to 67,334.94. South Korean shares, the Kospi, gained 4% to 6,597.90 thanks to increased investments in computer chip manufacturers, with Samsung Electronics surging 7.7% and memory chipmaker SK Hynix climbing 7.1%.

China's Shanghai Composite index increased by 0.3% to 3,946.51, whereas Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.2% to 25,352.13. Meanwhile, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.6% to 9,197.00. Brent crude, the global benchmark, saw a 0.9% rise to $89.67 early Wednesday, while U.S. oil benchmark crude also gained 0.9% to $83.98. Iran dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump's assertion that, as Iran seeks compensation in any talks to end the war, he would demand the same.

The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran in late February, resulting in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and causing a significant portion of the world's oil supply to be trapped in the Middle East. Last month, Brent's price fluctuated between $72 and $102 per barrel. Additionally, an attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on a ship in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, located at Yemen's southern tip, has sparked concerns that the violence might reignite a civil war and further disrupt regional shipping routes.

The potential rise in oil prices could exacerbate inflation, and they have contributed to regular gasoline prices averaging $4.01 per gallon, up from less than $3.14 a year ago. This has drawn Wall Street's attention to the release of the latest monthly inflation figures from the U.S. government on Wednesday, where economists anticipate a slight decrease in inflation to 3.4% in July from 3.5% in June.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 declined 0.3%, marking a second modest drop since reaching its all-time high on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 184 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite decreased 0.6%. Lower inflation might alleviate pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to curb price increases, but higher rates could impede the overall U.S. economy by making borrowing more expensive for households and businesses, potentially impacting stock and investment prices.