Stock market jitters persisted Monday as South Korea’s Kospi closed 8.3 percent lower after a tech-led sell-off triggered a 20-minute trading halt.
Japan’s Nikkei fell 3.9 percent, while other Asian markets, including Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and the Shanghai Composite, also closed lower.
US markets recovered part of Friday’s losses. The Nasdaq rose 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 opened 0.7 percent higher and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 percent.
The three US indexes had dropped sharply on Friday after a strong US jobs report raised expectations that interest rates could stay high or rise further this year.
Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo, said traders were watching a “messy mix” of shocks tied mainly to technology shares and rising energy prices.
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South Korean chipmaker Samsung closed down 10 percent, while SK Hynix also fell sharply. Taiwan’s Taiex dropped after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company shares fell 3 percent.
Brent crude jumped 4.6 percent to USD 97.34 a barrel in Asia after Iran and Israel exchanged strikes for the first time since an April ceasefire.
It later eased to around USD 94 after Iran said it would stop striking Israel.
Associate Professor Jiajia Yang of James Cook University said traders were again pricing in risks to global oil markets. He said prices could remain volatile unless diplomacy succeeds.
