Global Shares Slip on Rising Oil Prices08/18 04:49

   Global shares were mostly lower on Tuesday, as rising oil prices and worries 
about inflation countered the boost to sentiment from robust corporate earnings 
reports.

   TOKYO (AP) -- Global shares were mostly lower on Tuesday, as rising oil 
prices and worries about inflation countered the boost to sentiment from robust 
corporate earnings reports.

   France's CAC 40 slipped 0.5% in early trading to 8,533.66, while the German 
DAX fell 0.5% to 26,198.88. Britain's FTSE 100 was little changed, inching down 
less than 0.1% to 10,710.12.

   The future for the S&P 500 fell 0.5%, while that for the Dow Jones 
Industrial Average lost 0.1%.

   In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 sank 2.5% to finish at 67,460.73.

   South Korea's Kospi lost 1.6% to 6,869.83. The index has been sliding 
recently as investors have sold shares in the local market and invested in U.S. 
stocks to escape wild swings in the Kospi linked to the boom in artificial 
intelligence, analysts said.

   Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was little changed, inching down less than 0.1% to 
9,070.00.

   Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained nearly 0.1% to 25,471.15, while the Shanghai 
Composite added 0.2% to 3,990.30.

   Analysts said robust earnings reports in Asia and the U.S., partly tied to 
AI, have helped to counter worries about what the war in Iran will do to the 
global flow of crude oil and its impact on energy prices. Japan, for one, 
imports almost all its oil.

   "First, the beneficiary base from AI investment has broadened. Demand spread 
across a wide range of industries, including semiconductor production 
equipment, power equipment, machinery, electronic components, and materials. AI 
demand effectively helped rediscover globally competitive companies across 
these sectors," Masashi Akutsu and Tetsuhiro Tokuyama said in a recent report 
for BofA Securities.

   Oil prices have crept higher after a brief respite last month driven by 
hopes for an end to the war with Iran.

   The 60-day deadline for an agreement to end the Iran war and resolve the 
dispute over its nuclear program is expiring. An interim agreement reached in 
June has collapsed, and Washington and Tehran are even further apart than they 
were then.

   Last month alone, Brent crude, the international standard, zigzagged between 
$72 and $102 as hopes rose and fell that the United States and Iran could reach 
a deal that would allow oil tankers to freely exit the Persian Gulf again.

   Early Tuesday, the price for a barrel of Brent crude rose 0.1% to $90.94 a 
barrel. It gained 2.7% on Monday.

   Benchmark U.S. crude rose 0.6% to $84.99 a barrel.

   Rising oil prices have been a major factor behind stubbornly high inflation.

   In currency trading early Tuesday, the U.S. dollar rose to 159.68 Japanese 
yen from 159.46 yen. The euro cost $1.1576, down from $1.1583.