Stock market today: Japan’s Nikkei leads Asian market retreat as Middle East tensions flare
Asian stocks have tumbled, with Japan’s Nikkei slumping 2.4% on heavy selling of semiconductor-related shares and other market heavyweights
HONG KONG — Asian stocks tumbled Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei slumping 2.4% 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 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 lost 2.4% to 37,156.54, paring losses in the early trading when it plunged 3.5%.
Semiconductor equipment supplier Lasertec was the largest loser, which lost 8.4%. But most other big tech-related shares also dropped. Renesas gave up 6%, Tokyo Electron lost 8.7% and Sony Group Corp. declined 1.8%.
Toyota Motor Corp was down 2.2%.
Japan's headline inflation rate slowed to 2.7% in March, the government reported, while the core-core index, excluding fresh food and energy costs, moderated to 2.9%, marking the first time since November 2022 that it fell below 3%.
The yen was slightly firmer against the U.S. dollar, with the latter falling to 154.38 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 1.1% to 7,561.60. South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.7% to 2,589.65. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng declined 1.4% to 16,149.44, while the Shanghai Composite was 0.5% lower
Read more on abcnews.go.com
