Japan, South Korea stocks tumble over 6% as oil tops $100 amid broader Asia market rout
Fire breaks out on the Shahran oil depot after US and Israeli assaults, leaving quite a few gas tankers and autos within the space unusable in Tehran, Iran, on March 8, 2026.
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Japan’s Nikkei 225 and South Korea’s Kospi each plunged over 6% in early commerce Monday, main a broader regional sell-off as oil costs breached $100 per barrel for the primary time since 2022.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled 6.05%, falling under the 53,000 mark for the primary time since Feb. 6, whereas the Topix was down 5.27%.
Softbank Group Corp was among the many largest loser on the index, falling almost 10%, whereas chip-related stocks such as Advantest and lasertec was additionally down over 10% and 9%, respectively.
South Korea’s Kospi was down 6.5%, triggering a temporary trading halt for the Kospi 200 futures. A circuit breaker was activated final week when the benchmark tumbled greater than 12% Wednesday to document its worst single-day decline.
Heavyweight Samsung Electronics tumbled 8.4%, whereas counterpart chip SK Hynix noticed a bigger lack of 9.2%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 3.68% in early commerce.
Brent futures spiked 16.1% to $107.61, whereas US West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose almost 17.7% to $107.02.
The surge comes after main Middle Eastern oil producers, together with Kuwait, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, minimize oil manufacturing following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump, nonetheless, posted on Truth Social {that a} acquire in “short term oil prices” was a “very small price to pay” for destroying Iran’s nuclear risk.
“Only fools would think differently!” Trump added.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures had been at 25,328, under the index’s final shut of 25,757.29.
US inventory futures additionally tumbled on increased oil costs, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures down over 800 factors or 1.75% decrease.
S&P 500 futures had been down 1.59%, whereas Nasdaq-100 futures slid 1.6%.
— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.
