CENTCOM said Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. Since early May the US military has assisted navigation through the strategic trade artery; more than 800 merchant vessels and 380 million barrels of crude oil have successfully transited.

Midday in Hong Kong, the HSI rose 1.86% and the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 2.69%; first-half turnover reached HKD 188.435 bln. Sector leaders: optical communications, biotechnology and autos. Weakness: memory/storage, coal and mobile gaming. Notable movers: CK Hutchison (00001.HK), CSPC PHARMA (01093.HK) and 01347.HK climbed over 7%; 09863.HK rose nearly 7%; WuXi AppTec (02359.HK) added over 6%; Lenovo Group (00992.HK) and Xiaomi (01810.HK) were up more than 4%. Worst performers: MINIMAX-W (00100.HK) down over 12%, 02513.HK down over 11%, CATL (03750.HK) slipped about 2%.

July 9 — Kremlin spokesman Peskov said at a regular briefing that Russian President Putin and US President Trump have established a constructive dialogue, adding Putin is open to dialogue with the US leader.