Major Asian stock markets suffered sharp declines on Monday as renewed hostilities between Israel and Iran, coupled with growing expectations of US interest rate hikes, triggered a region-wide sell-off.

South Korea's benchmark KOSPI index fell nearly 9% in early trading, triggering the exchange's circuit breaker for the second time this year. The index closed 8.29% lower after trading resumed.

Chip giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, South Korea's two largest companies by market capitalization, saw their shares drop 10.2% and 7.6%, respectively.

Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 3.9%, while China's SSE Composite and Hong Kong's Hang Seng indices declined 1.7% and 1.3%, respectively. Taiwan's TAIEX slumped 3.5%.

In contrast, oil prices rose: Brent crude gained 3.7% to top $88.50 a barrel.

The equity rout followed a sell-off on Wall Street on Friday, where the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite plunged 4.18% — its worst day since April 2025 — after stronger-than-expected US jobs data fueled fears of Federal Reserve rate hikes.

"The sharp declines have been triggered by the large correction in US tech last Friday," said Fabien Yip, a market analyst at IG Group, citing spillover effects on Asian AI-related tech stocks. He also noted that the weak South Korean won and potential tightening could add strain to leveraged positions in Korea.

Source: www.aljazeera.com