World shares were mixed Wednesday after AI stocks drove gains on Wall Street. US futures edged higher. Oil prices rose more than 1 per cent after an attack on a major Saudi Arabia refinery by Iran-backed Houthi rebels on Tuesday renewed supply concerns.
In early European trading, Germany’s DAX shed 0.2 per cent to 25,539.36, while the CAC 40 in Paris declined 0.1 per cent to 7,882.52. Britain’s FTSE 100 was down 0.4 per cent at 10,645.50.
The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.1 per cent, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2 per cent lower.
In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi rose 6.8 per cent to close at 6,023.73.
Memory chipmaker SK Hynix jumped 11.4 per cent to its highest level in two weeks after it reported a record-high operating profit of 83.3 trillion won ($62.8 billion) for the last quarter, up nearly seven-fold from a year earlier and beating market estimates.
Samsung Electronics surged 9.1 per cent. It is set to report its third-quarter earnings Thursday.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 rallied 1.1 per cent to 63,954.19. Semiconductor maker Kioxia Holdings climbed 9.6 per cent ahead of its quarterly earnings report on Friday.
The Bank of Japan is scheduled to begin a two-day policy meeting on Thursday, with markets expecting its benchmark interest rate to be unchanged.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 0.3 per cent to 23,104.91, while the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.9 per cent to 3,681.47.
Taiwan’s Taiex advanced 2 per cent.
India’s Sensex fell 0.8 per cent. Jio Platforms, India’s largest telecom company, surged 21 per cent in its market debut after the country’s biggest ever initial public offering.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.3 per cent to 8,847.30.
