
July 16th, 2026
Asian shares mostly fell on Thursday.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 6.6%.
The Bank of Korea raised interest rates for the first time since 2023.
It did this to control inflation linked to the Iran war.
Memory chipmaker SK Hynix fell 11.2%.
Samsung Electronics dropped 8.2%.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.9%.
Japanese chipmaker Kioxia plunged 13.5%.
Tokyo Electron lost 5.2%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.7%.
Alibaba shares rose 4.4% after China approved Apple Intelligence for use.
The Shanghai Composite fell 0.9%.
Oil prices slipped but stayed high.
Brent crude dropped 0.4% to $84.55 a barrel.
That is up from about $72 in late February.
ING strategists said oil gained for a third day.
They said there are no signs of U.S.-Iran de-escalation.
They noted that rising tensions affect vessel flows from the Persian Gulf.
U.S. futures edged higher.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.4%.
BlackRock shares gained 6.6% after strong quarterly results.
The dollar fell to 162.09 yen.
July 16th, 2026

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