Saudi benchmark stock index fell 2.3%.

According to South Korea's Chosun Ilbo, Samsung's next-generation mobile-app processor Exynos 2700 outperformed Qualcomm's latest processor in Samsung's internal tests (Qualcomm: QCOM.O).

Spot gold briefly fell below $4,000/oz in Asian trade on Oct. 23 — the first time since July — and is down more than 3% this week. Wang Jun, chief analyst at Green Dahua Futures, cites three market-moving drivers: (1) high oil prices — Brent topped $114/bbl, reinforcing global and US inflation persistence; (2) firmer Fed December rate-hike expectations, with elevated US inflation lifting the dollar and US Treasury yields and eroding gold’s appeal (Wang calls this the main driver); and (3) global liquidity tightening and deleveraging. He expects international gold to remain under pressure into late October and early November.