- Asian stocks declined for a second day amid rising Middle East conflict concerns
- MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped up to 2%, extending Monday's 1.7% loss
- South Korea's Kospi fell as much as 4.1% after reopening from holiday
Asian stocks fell for a second day, as an escalation in the Middle East conflict fueled investor concern about surging oil prices and inflationary pressures.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped as much as 2%, extending Monday's 1.7% loss in the wake of US and Israeli strikes on Iran and its subsequent retaliation on neighbors. South Korea led equity market losses Tuesday, reopening following a holiday, with the Kospi sliding as much as 4.1%.
“The broader big picture is that the investment question is not primarily about Iran itself — it is whether the conflict leads to a larger value-at-risk episode driven by correlation into other markets,” said Nick Ferres, chief investment officer of Vantage Point Asset Management in Singapore.
Track live updates of US-Iran war here
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
- S&P 500 futures fell 0.7% as of 11:22 a.m. Tokyo time
- Japan's Topix fell 2.2%
- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.4%
- Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.3%
- The Shanghai Composite fell 1%
- Euro Stoxx 50 futures fell 0.7%
Currencies
- The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
- The euro was little changed at $1.1689
- The Japanese yen was little changed at 157.34 per dollar
- The offshore yuan rose 0.2% to 6.8842 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
- Bitcoin fell 1.6% to $68,317.88
- Ether fell 2% to $2,002.23
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