Public Markets 3h Briefing
×Last updated: March 18, 2026, 5:30 AM ET
Asian Markets & Central Banks
Asian equities climbed broadly wsj.com on Wednesday, taking cues from positive overnight trading on Wall Street, even as crude prices retreated slightly but remained elevated due to ongoing Middle East tensions. In Korea, Citigroup anticipates bloomberg.com the Bank of Korea will hike its policy rate towards 3% by year-end, citing heightened inflation risks stemming from surging global oil prices. Meanwhile, South Africa’s Consumer Price Index cooled bloomberg.com in February, though the central bank is widely expected to maintain current rates next week, preferring to wait out instability caused by regional conflict.
Energy Geopolitics & Spending Shifts
The dynamic in the Strait of Hormuz is redrawing maps bloomberg.com beyond just oil, impacting the broader natural gas market, as Iran continues moving crude bloomberg.com at pre-conflict levels while other exporters face disruption. This sustained geopolitical stress is prompting major shifts in corporate spending, with the world’s largest oil and gas producers slowing green transition investment bloomberg.com for the first time since 2017, marking an annual decline in energy transition capital allocation. Facing high household energy costs, the UK's resurgent Green Party demands bloomberg.com a tax increase targeting high-wealth individuals and businesses to fund voter subsidies. China, the world's largest importer, is reportedly preparing to utilize bloomberg.com its extensive commercial oil stockpiles to buffer the ongoing crisis.
Corporate Earnings & Dealmaking
Tencent Holdings posted bloomberg.com a 13% quarterly revenue increase, demonstrating sustained strength in its core gaming and advertising segments as the tech giant accelerates its investment in agentic artificial intelligence. In financial services integration, UBS successfully completed ft.com the transfer of 1.2 million client accounts from Credit Suisse in a major operational win amid ongoing regulatory pressure concerning capital requirements. Japanese insurer Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. is weighing bloomberg.com a substantial allocation of approximately ¥300 billion ($1.9 toward private credit during the fiscal year beginning in April, reflecting a growing appetite among Japanese institutions for alternative asset classes.
Regional Business & Tourism
The flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia reported bloomberg.com a wider net loss for the previous year, attributed to weakening revenue streams from its scheduled airline operations alongside rising operational costs. On the tourism front, Japan’s inbound travel figures returned to positive growth bloomberg.com in February, as increased arrivals from regions outside of mainland China successfully offset the persistent slump in Chinese tourist numbers. Separately, the National Stock Exchange of India has reportedly set bloomberg.com modest advisory fees of around 0.65% of the issue size for its forthcoming $2.5 billion initial public offering.