Asian Stocks

Brent futures were last at $99.85 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude was at $95.05 a barrel

Iran had earlier stepped up attacks on merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz, telling the world to get ready for oil at $200 a barrel

Asian shares advanced Tuesday as US stocks held steady while investors awaited signals on when the war with Iran may end. US futures and oil prices edged higher. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 2.1% to 55,387.75 and South Korea's Kospi surged 3.5% to 5,724.30. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 0.3% to 26,039.23, while the Shanghai Composite index inched up 0.1% to 4,127.34. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to $8,738.50. Taiwan's benchmark climbed 3.9%. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 dipped 0.2% to 6,781.48, a day after its latest wild swings caused by extreme moves in the oil market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 34 points, or 0.1% to 47,706.51 and the Nasdaq composite edged higher by less than 0.1% to 22,697.10. Oil prices have remained sharply below their peaks hit on Monday. Such spikes have been rocking financial markets worldwide because of worries that the war could block the global flow of oil and natural gas for a long time. Early Wednesday, the price for a barrel of ...

Share markets plunged and the safe-haven US dollar rose in Asia on Monday as oil surged past $110 a barrel, stoking fears of a protracted West Asia war on global energy supplies

With no sign of an end to hostilities in West Asia and tankers still not daring to cross the Strait of Hormuz, investors were bracing for a long stretch of higher energy costs

In calendar year 2025, the index rose 75 per cent as investors rushed to buy into the artificial intelligence (AI) frenzy, helping post back-to-back records

South Korea's ​KOSPI gauge recovered its steep losses in the prior session following a rally ​on Wall Street on hopes the United States and Iran will seek an off-ramp from hostilities

The Kospi Index plunged another 12% following a 7.2% drop in the previous session, as heavyweights Samsung Electronics Co., SK Hynix Inc. and Hyundai Motor Co. tumbled

Shares in Seoul dived 4 per cent ​to take two-day losses beyond 11 per cent as fast-money and foreigners bailed out of a ‌market that had soared on memory chipmakers' vast AI-driven profits

Asian shares mostly declined and oil prices surged higher Tuesday as investors eyed risks to the region's energy supply because of the Iran war. Shares in South Korea sank 4.8% as markets reopened after a holiday on Monday, to 5,946.06. Benchmark US crude rose 77 cents to $72.00 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, added $1.10 to $78.84 a barrel. They jumped Monday then fell back although still at higher levels than before due to worries that the war could clog the global flow of crude. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 sank 2.1% to 56,853.48. Like other resource-poor countries in the region, Japan could be especially hit by the lack of access to the Strait of Hormuz since much of its oil and natural gas is shipped through there. However, analysts say Japan has a sizable stockpile lasting more than 200 days and so the threat is not immediate. Japanese energy stocks plunged, with Eneos Corp. down nearly 6% and Idemitsu Kosan down nearly 4%. Defense-related issues, which ha

Japanese shares followed Wall Street lower after what appeared ​to be glowing results from AI sector bellwether Nvidia failed to impress investors

Nvidia on Wednesday forecast first-quarter revenue above market estimates, ‌betting on Big Tech's unabated spending on its AI processors

Asian shares mostly rose in Wednesday morning trading, with Japan's benchmark hitting a record high, as investors were cheered by an overnight Wall Street rally that seemed to reflect optimism about the artificial-intelligence boom. Japan's benchmark surged 1.3% to 58,081.62. That came despite China's move the previous day to restrict exports to 40 Japanese companies and organisations it says are contributing to Japan's "remilitarisation". The reaction was varied with the prices of some listed companies rising, like Subaru Corp and Mitsubishi Materials Corp, while others slipped, including Eneos Corp and Sumitomo Heavy Industries. Analysts said the declining yen worked to boost export shares, such as Honda Motor Co and Panasonic Corp. The US dollar slipped to 155.78 Japanese yen from 155.83 yen. The dollar traded close to 160 yen levels several months ago. The euro cost $1.1784, up from $1.1779. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.1% to 9,122.50. South Korea's Kospi surged 1.7% to ...

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 0.8 per cent and China's CSI 300 gained 1.3 per cent as markets there played catch-up after a holiday

Oil prices eased ahead of another round of talks between the United States and Iran ​due in Geneva on Thursday, with the risk of US military strikes lingering if a deal is not done

Trading was ​thinned in Asia with markets in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, but MSCI's broadest ‌index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5 per cent

Mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korean were among markets closed for Lunar New Year holidays

Mainland Chinese, Hong Kong, ​Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea markets were closed on Tuesday for Lunar New Year ​holidays. US markets were shut on Monday for Presidents' Day

Japan on Monday reported its economy grew a miserly 0.1 per cent annualised in the December quarter, far below the 1.6 per cent gain forecast as government spending dragged on activity

Asia shares were trading mostly lower Friday, tracking sharp Wall Street losses on a sell-off of technology-related stocks that investors fear could lose out from artificial intelligence disruptions. U.S. futures were mostly unchanged. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell 0.8 per cent to 57,165.13 on Friday, after it passed the 58,000 mark for the first time early Thursday. SoftBank Group, which has a focus on AI, fell 6.8 per cent even as the company reported a quarterly profit Thursday building on its investments in OpenAI, among other gains. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.4 per cent to 5,545.49, after crossing 5,500 on Thursday, driven by gains in technology-related stocks. Samsung Electronics, the Kospi's largest listed company, was up 1.2 per cent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.8 per cent to 26,547.97. The Shanghai Composite index was down 0.7 per cent to 4,105.04. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 traded 1.4 per cent lower at 8,919.30. On Thursday, Wall Street saw sharp losses as AI worries ...