AUD/USD, GBP/USD in focus as Kospi plunges and oil shock hits confidence

The source reports no currency price moves, pip figures or technical levels. The Asia-Pacific session was defined by heavy selling in regional equities. South Korea's Kospi fell more than 6% to below 6,000; the headline cites a 7% drop. A chip selloff and oil fears drove the losses. In Australia, NAB business confidence slid to -13 as the oil shock and rate hikes weighed on firms, a soft domestic backdrop for the Australian dollar. In the UK, Bank of England policymaker Greene warned that waiting for second-round inflation effects would be too late, a comment with relevance for the pound and the BoE policy outlook. On energy, Goldman Sachs expects a European reserve release to cut diesel prices by $11 but plays down the impact of Russian supply. The IMF warned that just 32 countries now drive 95% of global growth as AI widens the gap. Separately, chip rental costs have jumped 60% amid a deepening AI compute crunch. For traders, the key themes are risk-off equity flows, oil-driven inflation concerns and diverging central bank signals, with AUD exposed to weak confidence and GBP sensitive to BoE inflation commentary.