Oil prices sink 5% and Asian shares gain as Chinese chipmaker CXMT soars in Shanghai trading debut

BANGKOK, July 27, (AP): Shares were mostly higher Monday in Asia as oil prices slipped more than 4% after the US and Iran refrained from fighting while discussing a possible resumption of negotiations on an interim ceasefire deal. Shares in Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT soared about 470% as they began trading on Shanghai’s technology board.

The company jumped to become China's most valuable listed company with an estimated market capitalization of 3.3 trillion yuan (nearly $490 billion). The Pentagon did not respond to questions about the pause in attacks on Iranian coastal areas and infrastructure after nearly two weeks of escalating fighting sparked by Iran’s firing at ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

But markets reacted with relief. US futures surged early Monday and the price of a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, dropped 5.5% to $86.68. US benchmark crude dropped 6.1% to $83.89 per barrel. "Oil’s sharp retreat at the Monday open did more than knock a few dollars off the barrel. It loosened the geopolitical knot that had been tightening around equities, currencies, bonds and central banks for most of July,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.

In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 0.5% to 64,931.19, while the Kospi in South Korea advanced 1% to 6,755.75. Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.1% to 25,263.14, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 1.1% to 3,857.57. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.4% to 8,894.00. Taiwan's Taiex slipped 0.1% and the Sensex in India added 0.9%.

On Friday, the S&P 500 barely budged, picking up less than 0.1% and notching its second straight losing week for the first time since March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%. The Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.6%, weighed down by sharp losses for heavyweights like Micron Technology, which fell 7%, and Broadcom, which lost 2.7%.

Recent surges in energy prices and fresh tariffs announced last week by the administration of US President Donald Trump could result in hotter inflation, which has been squeezing consumers and looming over the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy. The Fed meets this week, though rising inflation has dashed hopes for an interest rate cut anytime soon.

Wall Street has been leaning toward a potential rate hike to tamp down higher prices. Higher energy costs are taking up a bigger share of household budgets, which have shifted toward more basic needs, like gasoline. Nationally, a gallon of gasoline costs $4.11 per gallon, according to AAA. That is still lower than this spring as the conflict in Iran expanded, but almost a dollar higher than last year at this time.