Asian stock markets fell sharply on Friday, following losses on Wall Street, while global oil prices continued to climb as escalating tensions between the United States and Iran fueled concerns over energy supplies.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 2.8% to 63,442.30, with SoftBank Group falling 4.1%.
South Korea’s Kospi declined 2.3% to 6,872.39. Samsung Electronics lost 3.9%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix fell 3.6%.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng slipped 0.8% to 24,753.54, while China’s Shanghai Composite fell 1.8% to 3,862.73. Shares of Chinese artificial intelligence chipmaker Enflame, however, surged about 180% in their Shanghai trading debut.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.2% to 8,712.20. Taiwan’s Taiex fell 1.7%, while India’s Sensex was down 1%.
U.S. stock futures edged higher in early trading.
Oil prices extended their gains as tensions between Washington and Tehran continued to raise concerns about disruptions to global supplies.
Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.9% to $108.59 a barrel, its highest level since May. The price stood at approximately $72 a barrel in late February before the conflict began.
Benchmark U.S. crude gained 0.7% to $103.22 a barrel.
Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for global energy supplies, remain well below pre-war levels, according to ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey. They said the reduced flows highlight the continuing fragility of the situation.
The declines in Asia followed another negative session on Wall Street. The S&P 500 fell 0.6% Thursday, recording its fourth consecutive loss. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also declined 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.7%.
Investors are now awaiting U.S. consumer inflation data for August ahead of the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week.
The latest producer price data showed U.S. wholesale inflation accelerating, with the Producer Price Index rising 5.4% in August from a year earlier, compared with a 4.8% annual increase in July.
Bond markets have also remained volatile as higher energy costs, inflation concerns and rising U.S. government debt push Treasury yields higher. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury climbed to 4.96% early Friday, up from 4.83% on Wednesday.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar slipped to 154.35 Japanese yen from 154.42 yen. The euro edged down to $1.1605 from $1.1612.
