Asia’s stock markets plunge amid US-Israeli conflict with Iran

Asian stocks rack up steep losses after Wall Street shrugs off risks of widening conflict in the Middle East.

Stock markets in the Asia Pacific have racked up steep losses after Wall Street earlier shrugged off the widening fallout of the US-Israeli war on Iran.

Key indexes in Japan, South Korea, Australia and mainland China fell sharply on Tuesday as US-Israeli attacks on Iran and Iranian strikes on US allies in the region stretched into a fourth day.

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South Korea’s KOSPI, the best-performing index this year, saw the biggest losses, plunging about 6.5 percent in afternoon trading.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 3 percent, while Australia’s ASX 200 dropped about 1.5 percent.

In China, the SSE Composite Index fell as much as 1.3 percent before making up much of its losses later in the day.

Airlines, which have cancelled thousands of flights to the Middle East amid the conflict, saw some of the biggest losses, with Korean Air plunging more than 9 percent and Japan Airlines sinking about 6 percent.

The Asia Pacific sell-off came after US stocks held firm overnight despite the escalating economic risks of the widening conflict, including surging energy prices amid Iran’s threat to shut the Strait of Hormuz.

The benchmark S&P 500 closed flat on Monday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite edged up 0.36 percent, though shares in major airlines, including Delta and United, fell sharply.

Oil prices soared as much as 13 percent on Monday before easing overnight, with the West Texas Intermediate and Brent North Sea Crude benchmarks up about 1.6 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively, as of 04:00 GMT.

The benchmark for European gas prices soared as much as 50 percent on Monday after Qatar’s state-owned QatarEnergy announced that it had halted production amid Iranian attacks in the region.