{"id":138461,"title":"What happened overnight – Thursday 16th July 2026","publisher":"Share Talk","author":"sharetalk","published":"2026-07-16T07:00:21+00:00","modified":"2026-07-16T07:00:21+00:00","canonical_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/what-happened-overnight-thursday-16th-july-2026/","markdown_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/what-happened-overnight-thursday-16th-july-2026.md","json_url":"https://www.share-talk.com/what-happened-overnight-thursday-16th-july-2026.json","category":"Blogs","categories":["Blogs","Technology","Technology, Media & Telecoms"],"tags":["Asia","Bangkok","Denmark","Endeavour Mining","Fed","Federal Reserve","Finland","FRANCE","FTSE 100","GERMANY","Glencore","Greenland plan","Hong kong","Japan","London","Manila","mining stocks","Mumbai","Nasdaq Composite","NATO alliance","Netherlands","Nikkei 225","Norway","S&P 500","shanghai","Singapore","Sweden","Sydney","Taiwan","UK","United States","Wall Street","Wellington"],"featured_image":"https://i0.wp.com/www.share-talk.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/overnight-1-1.webp?fit=750%2C406&quality=80&ssl=1","format":"news","language":"en-GB","content":"Asian shares were mostly lower on Thursday as selling in artificial intelligence and semiconductor stocks weighed on markets in South Korea and Japan.\n\nOil prices eased despite another round of strikes between the US and Iran, with Brent crude down 0.4% at US$84.55 a barrel. Prices remain elevated, however, having stood near US$72 in late February before the latest conflict began.\n\nSouth Korea’s Kospi tumbled 6.6% to 6,816.70 after the Bank of Korea raised interest rates for the first time since 2023 in an effort to curb inflationary pressure linked to the Iran conflict.\n\nChip stocks were among the biggest fallers, with SK Hynix dropping 11.2% and Samsung Electronics down 8.2%.\n\nJapan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.9% to 66,767.64, dragged lower by weakness in technology shares. Kioxia plunged 13.5%, Tokyo Electron fell 5.2%, Advantest lost 5.6% and SoftBank Group shed 6.4%.\n\nTaiwan’s Taiex slipped 0.3% ahead of results from TSMC, which is closely watched as a bellwether for the global semiconductor industry and artificial intelligence investment cycle.\n\nHong Kong’s Hang Seng was a regional outlier, rising 1.7% to 25,111.22.\n\nAlibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares climbed 4.4% after China’s cyberspace regulator approved Apple Intelligence for use in the country. Alibaba said its Qwen model will be integrated into Apple’s AI features.\n\nChina’s Shanghai Composite fell 0.9% to 3,921.20, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.2% lower to 8,820.50. India’s Sensex rose 0.3%.\n\nWall Street closed higher overnight after another softer-than-expected US inflation reading strengthened expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates unchanged in the coming months.\n\nThe Dow Jones gained 0.3%, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% and the Nasdaq added 0.6%."}