TOKYO: Asian shares mostly dipped in Monday morning trading as worries continued about soaring oil prices and the potential for further escalation in the US war with Iran.
The drops in Asia follow the deep declines on Wall Street last Friday that finished off a fifth straight losing week, its longest such streak in nearly four years.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 4.5 per cent in morning trading to 50,979.54. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.2 per cent to 8,417.00. South Korea's Kospi dove 3.2 per cent to 5,264.32. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.7 per cent to 24,519.63, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.7 per cent to 3,884.57.
Worries have been great in Japan and the rest of Asia about the effective lack of access to the Strait of Hormuz because of the war in Iran, as the region relies greatly on such access for oil shipments.
In energy trading, benchmark US crude jumped USD 2.28 to USD 101.92 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, soared USD 2.88 to USD 115.45 a barrel. Before the war, brent had been price at about USD 70 to a barrel.
Investors are now bracing for the war to last for some time, which would likely set off inflation in global markets, and eventually may stunt Asia's economic growth.
“Although we do not expect the conflict to be protracted, we anticipate heightened volatility in the near term,” said Xavier Lee, senior equity analyst at Morningstar Research.
Oil prices are again climbing after momentarily easing when President Donald Trump extended a self-imposed deadline to “obliterate” Iran's power plants to April 6.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 1.7 per cent to close its worst week since the war with Iran began. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 793 points, or 1.7 per cent, and fell more than 10 per cent from its record set last month, while the Nasdaq composite sank 2.1 per cent.
The S&P 500 is 8.7 per cent below its all-time high set in January. Big Tech stocks were among the heaviest weights on the market, including Amazon and Nvidia.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 108.31 points to 6,368.85 last Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 793.47 to 45,166.64, and the Nasdaq composite sank 459.72 to 20,948.36.
In the bond market, the yield for the 10-year Treasury rose as high as 4.48 per cent before pulling back to end last week at 4.43 per cent. That's up from 4.42 per cent late Thursday and from just 3.97 per cent before the war began.
In currency trading, the US dollar inched down to 159.97 Japanese yen from 160.32 yen. The euro cost USD 1.1505, down from USD 1.1510.