Oil prices ease and Asian shares gain on hopes for Mideast deal, as companies report strong profits

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BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares surged and oil prices slipped Wednesday after the U.S. stock market rallied to records, helped by strong corporate earnings reports and hopes for a deal setting the stage for talks that might eventually lead to an end to the war in Iran.

Benchmarks jumped more than 3% in Tokyo and Seoul as shares in computer chipmakers and other AI-related companies advanced.

Japan's Nikkei 225 gained 3.7% to 66,300.44, with chipmaker Kioxia surging 4.6% while chip testing equipment maker Advantest soared 8.7%.

The Kospi in Seoul shot up 3.8% to 6,598.26, led by a 7.4% gain for memory chipmaker SK Hynix. Tech giant Samsung Electronics advanced 3.5%.

Taiwan's Taiex advanced 2.9% as major chipmaker TSMC gained 3.7%.

“Clearly today the market is rallying on the back of AI stocks. You look across the other sectors, there’s a bit of activity here and there but really the focus has been back on semiconductors, technology and AI," said Neil Newman, head of strategy for Astris Advisory Japan.

Elsewhere in the region, the Shanghai Composite index picked up 1.4% to 3,874.40, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4%, to 25,951.68.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9% to 9,227.80.

The Sensex rose 0.2% after the Reserve Bank of India chose to keep its key repo rate unchanged at 5.25%, saying the economy was resilient despite shocks from the Iran war, but risks remained.

Declines for oil prices have buoyed shares.

Brent crude, the international standard, lost 0.5% to $78.99 per barrel early Wednesday. On Tuesday, it sank 5.3% as hopes rose for progress toward a full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices swung between $72 and $102 through July on uncertainty about when calm in the Middle East would allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again to deliver crude around the world.

Iran and Oman were inching toward a deal to reopen the strait, though that appears to be contingent on the United States lifting its blockade on Iran’s ports.

"All in all, it’s looking much brighter. We’re still not completely out of the woods yet, but I think we’re seeing some route out of this now and it’s been reflected in the markets,” Newman said.

U.S. benchmark crude shed 0.9% to $75.08 per barrel.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 shot up 1.8%, topping its prior all-time high set in June. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.7% to its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.6%.

Profits are piling up for companies as easing oil prices assuage worries about inflation.

Palantir Technologies helped lead the way, surging 29.5% after its CEO Alex Karp said its overall revenue leaped 93% in what he called an “otherworldly” quarter.

Such reports have helped to allay worries over a possible bubble in stock prices because of the AI boom.

Caterpillar climbed 5.6% after the heavy-equipment maker likewise reported stronger profit and revenue than analysts expected. It also is benefiting from the AI boom through increased orders for turbines used to power data centers, among other things.

Stocks of computer chip companies also strengthened. Nvidia gained 2.6%, Broadcom jumped 6.6% and Micron Technology surged 7.6%.

Shares in Chipotle Mexican Group tumbled 9.7%, however, on fears that its future profits could be hurt after the chain removed jalapeños from some of its restaurants following a salmonella outbreak. Chipotle said that Minnesota health officials have no ongoing concerns with it.

Reports on the U.S. economy showed it remains resilient even though inflation is worse than anyone would like. U.S. employers were advertising nearly 7.4 million job openings at the end of June, the Labor Department said, a slight slowdown from May’s level but close to economists’ expectations.

In other dealings early Wednesday, the U.S. dollar slipped to 157.61 Japanese yen from 157.74 yen. The euro rose to $1.1539 from $1.1532.

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Mayuko Ono in Tokyo contributed to this report.