Global Shares Slip as Brent Tops $100  09/09 04:50

   Global shares were mostly lower in cautious trading Wednesday as investors 
watched for what might happen on interest rates and the war with Iran pushed 
the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil past $100.

   TOKYO (AP) -- Global shares were mostly lower in cautious trading Wednesday 
as investors watched for what might happen on interest rates and the war with 
Iran pushed the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil past $100.

   Increased fighting in the Middle East is constricting the global flow of oil 
and more costly oil has worsened worries over high inflation.

   As of 0930 GMT, Brent crude, the international standard, was up 2.5% at 
$100.39 a barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude gained 1.9% to $94.85 a barrel.

   France's CAC 40 lost 1.1% in early trading to 8,224.46, while the German DAX 
declined 0.9% to 25,778.91. Britain's FTSE 100 shed 0.5% to 10,761.27.

   The future for the S&P 500 was nearly unchanged, while that for the Dow 
Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%.

   In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.2% to 65,142.78, while 
South Korea's Kospi gained 1.4% to 7,051.64.

   In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dipped 0.2% to 25,274.96. The Shanghai Composite 
gained 0.3% to 3,951.51.

   Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.1% to 8,911.40.

   Taiwan's Taiex edged 0.2% higher and the Sensex in Mumbai shed 0.9%.

   A closely watched report on U.S. inflation comes on Friday. That update will 
show how much more people were paying in August for groceries, clothes and 
other costs of living than a year earlier.

   Economists expect consumer inflation to have eased a bit, to 3.3% from 
July's 3.4%. That's well above the 2% target that the Federal Reserve has set 
as its goal.

   The Fed meets next week to decide whether to cut, raise or hold interest 
rates steady. The traditional move for the Fed when inflation is high is to 
raise its main interest rate. But President Donald Trump has been lobbying for 
lower interest rates.

   Japan's central bank also will meet next week to decide on its benchmark 
rate. Market watchers are expecting an increase, with the question shifting to 
by how much and if there will be more rate hikes this year.

   The U.S. Treasury secretary has made public remarks widely seen as critical 
of Japanese government policies that tend to favor a weak yen.

   "Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent delivered an unusually forceful message to 
yen bears, declaring that traders could 'bet against' him following the joint 
U.S.-Japan yen intervention on 31 July," Ng Jing Wen, an analyst at Mizuho 
Bank, said in a commentary.

   In currency trading early Wednesday, the U.S. dollar fell to 153.48 Japanese 
yen from 153.99. The euro cost $1.1632, inching up from $1.1624.