World shares were mostly higher on Tuesday and US futures advanced, with technology stocks leading gains in parts of Asia after recent heavy selling in shares linked to artificial intelligence. Oil prices also moved up again as the conflict between the US and Iran remained volatile.

South Korea, Japan and Taiwan posted strong gains, while European markets opened slightly higher and Hong Kong was little changed. On Monday, Wall Street ended mixed, with the S\&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq all closing slightly lower.

In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.2 per cent to 10,544.36 as new Prime Minister Andy Burnham hosted his first Cabinet meeting. France's CAC 40 rose 0.1 per cent to 8,351.93, while Germany's DAX added 0.3 per cent to 24,911.48.

In Asia, South Korea's Kospi jumped 3.6 per cent to 6,747.95 after falling 4.5 per cent a day earlier. Samsung Electronics rose 6.2 per cent and memory chipmaker SK Hynix gained 4.1 per cent. The Kospi has risen more than 50 per cent so far this year, but had fallen more than 20 per cent over the past month as investors booked profits amid concerns about a possible bubble in AI investments.

Japan's Nikkei 225 advanced 3.3 per cent to 66,232.19 after a holiday on Monday, recovering some of last week's losses. Computer memory maker Kioxia Holdings surged 17.2 per cent, chip testing equipment maker Advantest climbed 7.7 per cent, OpenAI investor SoftBank Group gained 6 per cent and chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron rose 2.3 per cent.

Taiwan's Taiex was up 4.2 per cent, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., or TSMC, rising 3.9 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped less than 0.1 per cent to 25,132.29. Chinese AI startup Zhipu, or Z.ai, jumped 36.9 per cent after reports on its new data centre powered only by domestic chips, while another Chinese AI startup MiniMax rose 15.2 per cent. The Shanghai Composite index gained 1.8 per cent to 3,864.37. Australia's S\&P/ASX 200 added less than 0.1 per cent to 8,793.30, while India's Sensex fell 0.3 per cent.

Oil prices rose after earlier losses. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was up 0.5 per cent at USD 89.68, well above the roughly USD 72 a barrel level seen before the war began in late February. US benchmark crude rose 0.6 per cent to USD 82.96 a barrel.

Early on Tuesday, Iran attacked another tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for global oil and gas shipments. The US announced another round of strikes targeting Iran for a 10th straight night. Iran has been retaliating against the US strikes by targeting US allies across the Middle East. As the two sides exchanged fire, Iran's interior minister travelled to Pakistan, a main mediator, for talks, though it remained unclear whether a new deal could be reached.

"There's some hope of de-escalation between the US and Iran," ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a commentary on Tuesday. "This won't be an easy task. Large divisions remain between the US and Iran." They added that a naval blockade by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthis against Saudi Arabia had increased risks to oil supplies.

On Monday, the S\&P 500 slipped 0.2 per cent to 7,443.28, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.6 per cent to 51,839.26 and the Nasdaq composite dipped less than 0.1 per cent to 25,508.07. Among major AI and chip-related stocks, Nvidia rose 0.2 per cent, Micron Technology gained 1.9 per cent, Broadcom added 2 per cent and AMD climbed 1.6 per cent after announcing an expanded AI partnership with Microsoft. In currency trading early on Tuesday, the US dollar rose to 162.67 yen from 162.50 yen, while the euro strengthened to USD 1.1424 from USD 1.1414.

Markets across Asia largely recovered on Tuesday on the back of technology stocks, while the US-Iran conflict kept oil prices elevated and investors focused on the risk to global energy supplies.

With PTI Inputs

- Ends

Published By:

India Today Web Desk

Published On:

Jul 21, 2026 16:00 IST