Overview
- Asian shares opened weaker Wednesday following a 3.8% U.S. April inflation reading, with oil near $107 a barrel and talks with Iran at a standstill, according to Reuters and other outlets.
- Indian markets, which tumbled Tuesday in what brokers called the steepest fall of the fiscal year, saw the Sensex drop 1,456 points and the rupee hit a record low near 95.7 per dollar as foreign funds sold and IT and realty stocks led losses tied in part to OpenAI’s enterprise push.
- Samsung Electronics fell about 5.7% in Seoul after wage talks with its union collapsed, raising the risk of a large strike that could disrupt production of AI and memory chips and adding pressure to Asia’s tech trade.
- Oil eased slightly on Wednesday yet stayed above $100 because Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz since late February has constrained flows through a waterway that carries a major share of global seaborne crude.
- Bitcoin, which briefly slipped under $80,000 after the CPI print, rebounded above $81,000 as CoinShares reported $858 million of weekly inflows into crypto funds, even as traders scaled back expectations for near‑term Federal Reserve rate cuts and U.S. 10‑year yields hovered near 4.47%.