Global market wrap: Asian stocks weaken on higher oil prices; Shein drops 10% in market debut

We are back with quick updates on global developments around stock markets, commodities and companies that you shouldn’t miss today.

Asian stocks traded with a negative bias on Tuesday due to soaring oil prices amid heightened tensions in the Middle East region.

Both South Korea’s Kospi index and Japan’s Nikkei index were trading flat on Tuesday. While Kospi was down 0.04% to 6,817, Nikkei was trading marginally higher by 0.03% at 66,331.

China’s Shanghai Composite index was also trading just around 0.03% higher at 3,988. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index, meanwhile, shed 1% to 25,311.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 traded 0.4% lower at 9,041 on Tuesday, while Singapore’s Straits Times was down 0.8% to 5,710.

US stock futures traded flat on Monday night ahead of the August jobs report to be released on Friday. S&P 500 futures slipped 0.04%, Nasdaq 100 futures were marginally down by 0.06%, while futures tied to the Dow were trading higher by 0.04%.

In regular trading session on Monday, the S&P 500 dropped 0.33%, the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.12%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.7%.

Oil prices rose sharply for a second day on Tuesday after US President Donald Trump warned of additional strikes against Iran. The US crude oil futures for October delivery gained 1.5% to $87 per barrel by 0034 EDT, while Brent futures for December delivery jumped 3.5% to $91.50 per barrel.

Gold prices were steady on Tuesday as higher oil prices stoked inflation concerns, raising rate hike bets. US gold futures for ​December delivery were trading 0.1% lower at $4,477 per ounce, while spot gold slipped 0.5% to $4,428 per ounce by 0434 GMT.

Here’s a look at the key developments of the day:

Apple’s App Store head steps down

A report said on Monday that Apple’s lead for its App Store and events Phil Schiller has stepped down from his role.

The report mentioned that Schiller will remain at the company and will work on unnamed initiatives. His role change comes just before John Ternus is set to take over from Tim Cook as Apple CEO with effect from September 1.

Schiller, 66-year-old executive who was Apple’s senior vice president of marketing until leaving that job in 2020, made the latest change only in recent days, the report said.

Amazon shares fall on reports of FTC suing company over ad practices

Amazon.com Inc. shares fell 2.8% on Monday following a report that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will file a lawsuit against the company over allegations related to its advertising pricing practices.

According to the report, FTC plans to file the lawsuit in a Seattle federal court, alleging that Amazon manipulated prices businesses paid to advertise on its retail platform over a seven-year period. More than 20 state attorneys general from both parties will join the case. States expected to join include New York, California and Florida.

Anthropic signs $35 billion cloud deal with Nvidia-backed Lambda

Claude creator Anthropic has signed a cloud-computing deal worth $35 billion with Lambda, a cloud provider backed by Nvidia, for a Texas data center.

According to a report, the project is being developed in Nueces County by crypto-mining-turned-AI data center company Hut 8 and covers a capacity of about 350 megawatts.

The Lambda deal will bring online Nvidia capacity to meet growing demand for Anthropic’s Claude AI, the report added.

Shein’s shares dive 10% in Hong Kong market debut

Shares of Shein fell over 10% in their Hong Kong trading debut on Tuesday after receiving tepid response to its initial public offering (IPO).

The Singapore-headquartered company had sold about 280 million shares in its IPO, raising around 13.60 billion Hong Kong dollars ($1.74 billion) after the final offer price was set at HK$48.56 per share, below the maximum offer price of HK$49.5.

The IPO valued Shein at around $26.5 billion, compared with its private market valuation of $100 billion in 2022.

Baidu becomes dual-primary listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Nasdaq

Chinese technology giant Baidu said that its conversion of the secondary listing status to a dual primary listing status on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange became effective on Tuesday.

The company is now a dual primary listed company on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq Global Select Market, according to an exchange filing.