Oil tops $92, Asian stocks fall after fresh US strikes on Iran

Oil prices rose and Asian equities fell Wednesday after the United States launched fresh strikes on Iran following the reported downing of a US Apache helicopter in the Strait of Hormuz. MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index outside Japan dropped 0.6%, Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.9% and South Korea’s Kospi fell 2%. Brent crude gained 0.9% to $92.29 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate rose 0.8% to $88.97. In Singapore, the Straits Times Index fell as much as 1.7% and DBS shares slid as much as 3.3%, briefly wiping more than S$6 billion off the bank’s market value. Investors were also focused on US consumer price data due later Wednesday, with economists in a Reuters survey expecting annual inflation of 4.2% in May.