Iran's Attack on US Military Base Leads to Sharp Decline in Major Asian Stock Markets (Summary)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] On the 8th, major Asian stock markets closed lower as military tensions escalated following Iran's attack on U.S. military bases in Iraq.

South Korea's KOSPI index closed at 2141.31, down 1.11% (24.23 points). The KOSDAQ index also fell 3.39% (22.50 points) to close at 640.94.

China's Shanghai Composite Index ended the day at 3066.89, down 1.22% (37.91 points).

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index closed at 28,087.92, down 0.83% (234.14 points).

On the same day, Taiwan's TAIEX index closed at 11,817.10, down 0.53% (63.22 points).

Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended trading at 23,204.76, down 1.57% (370.96 points). The TOPIX index closed at 1701.40, down 1.37% (23.65 points).

Amid continued safe-haven demand, gold spot prices were trading at $1,594.22 per ounce as of 3:05 PM (Korean time). During the day, gold prices surged to as high as $1,609.97 per ounce. This is the first time since 2013 that gold prices have exceeded $1,600. Due to extreme instability in the Middle East, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures also rose more than 4% on the day.

Meanwhile, the U.S. stock market closed before Iran's attack on U.S. military bases in Iraq, so there was no significant decline.

On the 7th (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 119.70 points (0.42%) to 28,583.68. The S&P 500 index dropped 9.10 points (0.28%) to 3,237.18, and the Nasdaq Composite index decreased by 2.88 points (0.03%) to 9,068.58.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.