Kospi Jumps 1.8 Percent as Asia Rebounds, Brent Holds at $106.6

Updated 09:25 UTC: India's morning flat open did not hold. The Sensex fell 442 points to 72,578 at its low at 13:18 in Mumbai, and the Nifty 50 fell 160 points to 22,558, Hindu BusinessLine's live blog reported. Losses then narrowed. By 14:00 in Mumbai the Sensex was down 169 points at 72,865.04 and the Nifty was down 65.70 points at 22,656.25. Shriram Finance was the biggest Nifty loser, down about 4.2 percent, while IT stocks including TCS and Infosys gained and limited the fall. Traders blamed high crude, profit taking after Tuesday's 1,109 point Sensex rally, and a 12th straight session of foreign selling.

Asian shares inched higher on Wednesday as chip stocks recovered from Tuesday's selloff, but high oil prices and the US inflation report due later in the day kept gains small.

South Korea's Kospi added 1.8 percent. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each rose more than 2 percent, recovering part of the previous session's loss after China's CXMT memory advance rattled the sector. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2 percent, and the MSCI index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5 percent.

India opens flat

Indian benchmarks barely moved at the open. The Sensex stood at 73,026.54 at 9:21 am in Mumbai, down 7.24 points, and the Nifty 50 was at 22,713.70, down 8.25 points. Information technology stocks led what gains there were. Foreign investors have sold Indian shares for 12 straight sessions, with October outflows near $4.9 billion, and September inflation of 5.54 percent sits close to the Reserve Bank of India's 6 percent ceiling.

Singapore's Straits Times index fell 0.2 percent after the central bank unexpectedly held its policy settings steady at its October meeting. Third quarter growth there came in at 5.4 percent from a year earlier.

Oil is the weight on the market

Brent crude rose to $106.6 a barrel and US crude ticked up 0.8 percent to $94.96. Concern over energy supply grew after Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. Two senior Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran plans to step up attacks on shipping around the Strait of Hormuz before the US midterm elections, aiming to keep oil prices high. Brent was quoted at $106.85 in early Indian trade.

Bonds and the CPI test

Longer dated US bonds rallied as investors looked for safety. The 10 year Treasury yield held at 5.221 percent after touching its lowest level in nearly two weeks. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal expect US consumer prices to show a 3.6 percent rise from a year earlier for September, up from 3.4 percent in August. New York Fed President John Williams said Tuesday that one more rate rise this year may be appropriate, and named AI driven inflation as the thing he watches closest.

What happens next

The US inflation print later Wednesday sets the tone for the Federal Reserve's October meeting. A hot number lifts yields and the dollar and usually knocks Asian shares the next morning. A soft number gives the rebound room to run.