Asian Markets Today: South Korea's Kospi Crashes 9%, Trading Halted Over Circuit Breaker; Japan's Nikkei Drops 4%

Asian Markets Today: Major indices across Asian markets and US stock futures dropped sharply on Monday, June 8, after Iran reportedly fired missiles at Israel, compromising a fragile ceasefire and heightened uncertainty following last week's tech selloff. Asia-Pacific markets opened lower, with South Korean equities leading losses as the benchmark Kospi crashing nearly 9%, triggering circuit breaker which led to a halt in trading. Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 3.4%. Australia markets are closed for the day.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures last traded at 24,544, lower than the index's Friday close of 24,961.95. In US markets, futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 80 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures each lost 0.2% as well. The selloff across global indices was led by tech and AI-driven losses following Nasdaq's crash on Friday.

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Tech selloff triggers market rout

Wall Street's historic weekly run came to a halt, with stocks hit by a tech selloff and higher bond yields after a solid jobs report added to bets the Federal Reserve's next interest-rate move will be a hike. That repricing of the US Fed outlook coincided with a swoon in the artificial-intelligence shares that had led a surge from this year's lows. Nasdaq 100 sank 5%, the most since April 2025.

A gauge of chipmakers tumbled 10%. Growing anxiety about valuations sent the S&P 500 down 2.6%, with the index failing to complete a 10th straight week of gains. The concerted slide in stocks, bonds and crypto was the biggest setback in months for the latest leg of the bull market, which traces to the end of March when negotiations began in earnest to end the war in Iran.

Concern has grown about the sustainability of an AI-fueled rally that had pushed the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index toward its best quarter ever. Treasury two-year yields jumped 12 basis points to 4.16%. Swaps are fully pricing in a rate increase by the end of 2026. US job growth topped all forecasts in May and the unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%, offering the clearest sign yet that the labor market may be breaking out of a prolonged period of lackluster hiring.

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Crude oil price today

Crude oil prices surged after Iran launched several rounds of missiles toward Israel, raising fears that a fragile ceasefire in the Middle East could unravel and further disrupt energy supplies from the region. Brent crude jumped as much as 3.6% to $96.47 a barrel, while US benchmark West Texas Intermediate briefly approached $94 before paring some gains.

The rally added to volatility in energy markets that have been driven largely by geopolitical developments rather than underlying supply-demand fundamentals. The latest escalation comes at a sensitive stage in negotiations aimed at ending the Middle East geopolitical conflict. An Iranian military adviser said the missile attacks were intended as a warning to Israel to halt military actions in Lebanon. Israel said all incoming missiles were intercepted and reported no casualties. 

Fresh Israel-Iran tensions

The reported strike by Iran raised fresh concerns about the stability of the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran. The reported missile attack followed a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Iranian Parliament Speaker MB Ghalibaf, who argued that the US naval blockade and alleged breaches of agreements related to Lebanon constitute violations of the ceasefire, according to CNBC.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed missiles were fired from Iran toward Israel and said its defensive systems were activated to intercept the threat. As per Iranian broadcaster Press TV, the IRGC's Aerospace Force carried out the strike, identifying Ramat David as the launchpad for Israeli attacks on Lebanon. Tehran used the strike to challenge the terms of the April 8 ceasefire brokered between Iran and the US, saying the agreement was conditioned on a full cessation of hostilities.

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