Oil prices jumped and Asian shares were mostly lower Monday after the U.S. carried out airstrikes and Iran retaliated.
The price of Brent crude, the international standard, gained 4.7% to $79.59 per barrel, while U.S. benchmark crude oil added 4.8% to $74.85 per barrel.
Prices for both types of crude oil recently had slipped back to around the levels they were at before the war with Iran began, after the two sides set an interim agreement on ending the conflict and ships resumed transporting oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
However, the United States launched several waves of strikes on Iran into Monday morning over an Iranian attack on a container ship in the strait that set it ablaze and left a crew member missing over the weekend. Iran retaliated by targeting countries across the Middle East.
U.S. stock futures fell, with the contract for the S&P 500 down 0.6% and that for the Dow 0.4% lower. The Nasdaq composite future lost 1.3%.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index lost 2.2% to 67,055.67, while in Seoul, the Kospi declined 8.2% to 6,864.84.
Shares in South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix, which soared 13% in their debut Friday on Wall Street, slumped 13.3% in Seoul. Its bigger rival Samsung Electronics sank 10.5%.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged 0.1% higher, to 24,200.67, and the Shanghai Composite index shed 1.9% to 3,920.50.
(AP)
