Asian markets open to a fresh Strait of Hormuz shock as the US strikes Iran in retaliation for tanker attacks and oil surges past $72, the Kospi’s chip-stock rout deepens even as Samsung posts a record profit, the Hang Seng extends its rally on tech strength and a buoyant IPO market, the yen holds near 40-year lows with intervention risk building, the Aussie dollar softens as the RBA flags an oil-driven inflation risk, Aluminium and Natural Gas both catch a fresh geopolitical bid, Litecoin and Solana extend their recoveries, and the RBNZ’s rate decision looms as the session’s next scheduled catalyst.

The overnight escalation in the Strait of Hormuz is the dominant story of the Asian session. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps fired on three commercial vessels transiting the strait on Tuesday: the Qatari-owned LNG carrier Al Rekayyat, which suffered an engine-room fire and was at risk of exploding; the Saudi-flagged supertanker Wedyan; and a third vessel that reported structural damage. In response, US Central Command said it launched a “series of powerful strikes” early Wednesday, hitting more than 80 Iranian targets with precision munitions, including air-defence systems, radar sites, anti-ship missile batteries and small boats used by the Revolutionary Guard. The US Treasury separately revoked the sanctions waiver that had allowed Iran to sell crude and petrochemicals on the open market, a significant additional escalation on top of the military response. Saudi Arabia and Qatar have both formally condemned the attacks on their vessels, and shipping-security analysts warn that maritime traffic through the strait is likely to thin sharply again as owners reassess risk, with some rerouting toward the Red Sea despite ongoing Houthi threats there.

The chip-stock rout that first rattled Wall Street on Tuesday is extending deeper into the Asian session, with South Korea’s Kospi under renewed pressure even after Samsung Electronics reported a record quarterly profit, as investors instead focus on stretched AI-hardware valuations and the prospect of a broader unwind following Monday’s semiconductor-led selloff. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is also softer, tracking the regional tech weakness. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is bucking the trend, however, surging roughly 2% to notch a fourth consecutive session of gains, supported by a rally in Tencent, SMIC, Lenovo, Kuaishou and Xiaomi, alongside continued strength in the city’s IPO market after autonomous-driving firm Momenta Global priced its Hong Kong listing above expectations. Beijing and Hong Kong authorities have also announced new measures to expand cross-border currency, bond and gold trading, aiming to reinforce the city’s role as the leading offshore yuan hub, while investors look ahead to China’s June CPI and PPI data due Thursday.

In FX, USD/JPY has eased modestly to near 161.90, pulling back slightly but still within striking distance of its 40-year high, as the wide roughly 250-basis-point gap between the Federal Reserve’s 3.50%–3.75% policy range and the Bank of Japan’s 1% rate continues to sustain carry-trade demand for the dollar. Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama has again reiterated that Tokyo stands ready to intervene at any time, and markets remain alert for a repeat of the sharp, unsignalled moves seen in recent weeks, even as many traders remain skeptical that intervention alone would provide lasting relief. AUD/USD, meanwhile, is little changed near 0.6941, hovering close to a three-month low, after RBA Assistant Governor (Economic) Sarah Hunter said the central bank would act as needed to return inflation to target and warned that further tightening may be required if the Hormuz-driven oil shock lifts household inflation expectations. Elsewhere in the region, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s Monetary Policy Committee is widely expected to hike its Official Cash Rate by 25 basis points to 2.50% later in the session, a decision that has flipped from a coin-toss to a clear majority view among economists over the past week even as the sharp fall in oil prices earlier this year had briefly clouded the tightening outlook.

In commodities, Aluminium on the London Metal Exchange has extended its snap-back to $3,153.93 a tonne, rebounding sharply from Tuesday’s four-month low near $3,090, as the renewed Strait of Hormuz escalation revives concerns over supply from the Gulf region, which accounts for close to a tenth of global aluminium output, even as rising Chinese and Indonesian smelter production continues to argue for a more measured advance. Natural Gas is holding firm near $3.27 per MMBtu, supported not only by strong LNG export flows and a still-warm US weather outlook but also by the direct strike on the Qatari LNG carrier in the strait, which has put global gas-shipping risk back in sharp focus for the first time since the tanker attacks earlier this year. In crypto, Litecoin has given back part of its recovery from last week’s swing low near $39.17, slipping to around $42.65 as it retreats from key Fibonacci resistance, while Solana has pulled back to $77.24, retreating from the $80 resistance band toward its 50-day EMA even as network activity metrics, including active addresses and transactions per second, remain near yearly highs. Both remain within their broader recovery structures despite the pullback, even as the Hormuz escalation keeps the broader risk-off tone in place. Wednesday’s FOMC minutes and Thursday’s Chinese inflation data loom as the next major catalysts for the balance of the week.