Market Wrap MENA-Asia 23 July: Brent Climbs Above 99 Dollars on Red Sea Tanker Attacks While Korea’s Chip Surge Leads Asia and Gold Retreats

By The Edge Research Team

Oil dominated a second day, but the safe-haven trade broke with it. Brent crude jumped about 5.7 percent to above 99 dollars, touching 99.47, after Yemen’s Houthis claimed drone and missile strikes on two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea and the US military completed a twelfth consecutive night of strikes on Iran, per CNBC. This time, though, gold did not follow oil higher: it fell about 1.9 percent as the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.71 percent, its highest since January 2025, and the dollar firmed, so the metals lost the bid that had carried them a day earlier, our reading. Asia looked past the oil shock to technology, with South Korea’s Kospi surging 4.40 percent on a chip rally, while the Gulf tracked crude higher, most of its boards closing in the green.

Asia’s session belonged to the chipmakers. Seoul’s Kospi jumped 4.40 percent to 7,096.89 and the Kosdaq 5.22 percent, leading the region after Alphabet reported an 82 percent jump in cloud revenue and lifted its 2026 capital spending plan to as much as 205 billion dollars, per CNBC, a signal of heavier artificial-intelligence infrastructure spending that carried memory and AI-hardware names even as Alphabet’s own stock slipped after hours, our reading. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.28 percent to 25,210.81, Japan’s Topix added 0.51 percent and the Nikkei 225 0.46 percent, and mainland China firmed, the Shenzhen Component up 0.44 percent and Shanghai 0.25 percent. Australia’s ASX 200 gained 0.18 percent and Taiwan’s Taiex closed a touch higher, while Singapore’s Straits Times eased 0.24 percent and India’s Nifty 50 fell 0.53 percent. The yen weakened past 163.5 per dollar.

The Gulf traded the oil price, and most of the region rose with it. Abu Dhabi’s FADGI led the major boards, up 0.71 percent to 9,840.64, and Boursa Kuwait firmed, its All Share up 0.52 percent to 8,661.58 and the Premier Market 0.48 percent to 9,072.46. Saudi Arabia’s TASI added 0.27 percent to 10,804.11 and the MSCI Tadawul 30 0.11 percent to 1,449.67, Dubai’s DFM General Index rose 0.24 percent to 5,799.04, Muscat’s MSX 30 edged up 0.08 percent to 7,117.20, Bahrain’s All Share firmed 0.09 percent to 1,966.84 and Amman’s ASE was effectively flat, up 0.03 percent to 3,932.39. Qatar’s QE Index was the lone decliner, off 0.34 percent to 10,032.48. Egypt’s market was closed for a public holiday. The region’s gains came against the backdrop of the tanker strikes off the Saudi coast, which the Saudi Press Agency confirmed had set a fire on one vessel with its crew reported safe, per CNBC.

The cross-asset board split along the inflation line. Brent’s 5.7 percent surge to about 99.45 dollars and West Texas Intermediate’s 4.8 percent rise to 90.99 were joined by natural gas, up 1.98 percent, while the precious metals reversed hard: gold fell 1.91 percent to about 4,073 dollars and silver dropped 3.07 percent, and copper eased 1.05 percent. The move in rates was the pivot, the 10-year Treasury yield rising to 4.71 percent, its highest since January 2025, per CNBC, as the oil spike fed inflation expectations and lifted real yields, which pulled the dollar higher, the euro off 0.26 percent and sterling 0.24 percent, and left gold without its usual haven support, our reading. Market volatility rose, the VIX climbing above 18 in early US trading. Bitcoin eased 1.23 percent to about 65,100 dollars, the Egyptian pound held near 51.25 and the Kuwaiti dinar near 0.3078.

Further west, Wednesday’s closes from our published US-Europe wrap remain the reference: Wall Street stalled, the S&P 500 off 0.14 percent and the Nasdaq 0.57 percent as the oil move revived bets on a more hawkish Federal Reserve, while Europe rose on a commodity-stock rally, London’s FTSE 100 up 1.24 percent.

Why it matters: The oil shock has widened and changed character. Strikes on Saudi tankers in the Red Sea pushed Brent toward 99 dollars and, crucially, flipped the metals: with the 10-year yield at its highest in about eighteen months, gold lost its safe-haven bid as real yields climbed, a break from the day before, our reading. Yet Asia looked through the geopolitics to the artificial-intelligence spending signal from Alphabet, powering a chip rally that lifted Korea most, while the Gulf’s energy weighting carried most of its boards higher even as the conflict edged closer to regional shipping.

Outlook: The markers into the rest of the week are whether Brent can hold near 99 dollars and whether the disruption in the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait spreads, whether the 10-year yield presses further above 4.7 percent and keeps gold on the back foot, whether Asia’s chip rally can broaden beyond Korea, and how the rest of the mega-cap technology earnings land after the New York close.

Table – MENA and Asia equities, 23 July close, ranked by change:

Table – US and Europe, Wednesday 22 July closes, for reference, ranked by change:

Table – Commodities, rates, FX and crypto, intraday 23 July, ranked by change:

Price basis: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Jordan closes pulled at their exchange originators about 15:00 to 16:00 Kuwait time on 23 July, with the Saudi close confirmed after its closing auction; Dubai, Oman and Bahrain equities and all Asia, commodity, rate, FX and crypto figures via CNBC quotes about 15:40 Kuwait time, intraday and not settlements, with the Bahrain figure an indicative reading and the commodity, rate and FX figures captured before the US cash open; the VIX is an early-session intraday level; Egypt’s market was closed for a public holiday and is omitted; the US and Europe table repeats our published Wednesday wrap.

Sources: Saudi Exchange; Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange; Boursa Kuwait; Amman Stock Exchange; Qatar Stock Exchange; CNBC.

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