Stock market today: Asian markets sink, with Japan’s Nikkei down 3.5%, as Mideast tensions flare
Asian stocks have tumbled, with Japan’s Nikkei slumping 3.5% on heavy selling of semiconductor-related shares and other market heavyweights
HONG KONG — Asian stocks tumbled Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei slumping 3.5% on heavy selling of semiconductor-related shares and other market heavyweights.
Tensions in the Middle East were weighing on sentiment across the region, and U.S. futures were sharply lower.
Oil prices jumped about $3 as the state-run IRNA news agency reported that Iran fired air defense batteries early Friday morning after reports of explosions near the city of Isfahan.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 plunged 3.51% to 36,742.05.
Semiconductor equipment supplier Lasertec was the largest loser, it lost 9.7% in morning trading. But most other big tech-related shares also dropped. Renesas gave up 7.3%, Tokyo Electron lost 7.8% and Sony Group Corp. declined 3.3%.
Toyota Motor Corp was down 3.7%.
Japan's headline inflation rate in March slowed to 2.7%, while the core-core index, excluding fresh food and energy costs, moderated to 2.9%, marking the first time since November 2022 that the index fell below 3%.
The yen was slightly firmer against the U.S. dollar, with the latter falling to 153.80 Japanese yen from 154.64 yen.
Markets are waiting for the Japanese central bank’s next move after it raised its benchmark interest rate last month for the first time in 17 years, ending a longstanding policy of negative rates meant to boost the economy. But the rate remains near zero.
Elsewhere, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 1.7% to 7,512.70. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 2.9% to 2,558.56. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.4% to 16,161.24, while the Shanghai Composite edged down 0.1% to 3,071.76.
Overnight on Wall Street, the
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