Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday, with South Korea's Kospi surging 4% to 6,597.90 on renewed buying of computer chipmakers, while oil prices gained amid doubts over when Iranian crude will flow freely again. Samsung Electronics rose 7.7% and SK Hynix added 7.1%. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.6% to 67,334.94, Taiwan's Taiex advanced 0.8%, and the Shanghai Composite added 0.3% to 3,946.51, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 1.2% to 25,352.13 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.6% to 9,197.00. Brent crude was up 0.9% at $89.67 a barrel and U.S. benchmark crude rose 0.9% to $83.98, as Iran rejected President Trump's demand for compensation in any talks and an attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on a vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb strait raised concerns about regional shipping routes. Higher oil prices have pushed the average U.S. gasoline price to $4.01 a gallon, up from less than $3.14 a year ago, and Wall Street is focused on Wednesday's U.S. inflation report, with economists expecting a dip to 3.4% in July from 3.5% in June.
