The New York Times reports an Iranian official and four diplomats say Iran and Oman are moving forward with a plan to charge vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, despite public US objections. Oman has formally submitted a proposal to the US and other Western allies seeking to require shipping companies to pay service fees for use of the strait.

European stocks opened broadly higher: Germany's DAX 30 rose more than 0.8%, the UK’s FTSE 100 was up about 0.3%, and the Euro STOXX 50 gained over 0.5%.

Hang Seng opened lower after yesterday's rebound and slipped back below 23,000, falling over 300 points intraday to a low of 22,685.14. At midday the Hang Seng Index was down 1.19% at 22,752.96 while the Hang Seng Tech Index was up 1.40% at 4,454.38; turnover was HK$139.9 billion. Semiconductors and optical-communications led gains and commercial-space names were strong; yesterday's new-drug leaders pulled back while consumer, oil and precious-metals sectors lagged. IPO movers: Zhenjiankang Medical (02697.HK) +197.31%, Xunlong Technology (06715.HK) +44.5%. Dida Mobility (02559.HK) +90.55% after Tongcheng Travel (00780.HK) said yesterday it will launch a full tender offer for Dida (Tongcheng -4.15%). Selected stock moves: SMIC (00981.HK) +7.61%, Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable (06869.HK) +7.94%, Nongfu Spring (09633.HK) -8.00%, Laopu Gold (06181.HK) -5.58%, Yaojie Ankang-B (02617.HK) -9.04%, PetroChina (00857.HK) -4.66%.