A fire breaks out at the Shahran oil depot following US and Israeli attacks, rendering numerous tankers and fuel vehicles in the area unusable in Tehran, Iran, on March 8, 2026.
Anadolu | Anadolu | fake images
The Nikkei 225 of Japan and South Korea Kospi Both plunged more than 6% in early trading on Monday, triggering a broader regional sell-off as oil prices surpassed $100 a barrel for the first time since 2022.
Japan Nikkei 225 fell 6.22%, falling below the 53,000 mark for the first time since February 6, while the Topix was down 5.27%.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 6.68%, prompting a temporary suspension of trading in Kospi 200 futures. The circuit breaker also tripped last week when the benchmark index fell more than 12% on Wednesday to record its worst single-day drop.
Australia S&P/ASX 200 fell 3.68% in early operations.
Brent Futures rose 16.1% to $107.61, while US West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil Futures rose almost 17.7% to $107.02.
The increase comes after major Middle East oil producers, including Kuwait, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, reduced oil production following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
However, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that an increase in “near-term oil prices” was a “very small price to pay” for destroying Iran’s nuclear threat.
“Only fools would think differently!” Trump added.
Hong Kong Hang Seng Index Futures were at 25,328, below the index’s last close of 25,757.29.
US stock futures also fell due to rising oil prices, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures falling more than 800 points or 1.75% lower.
S&P 500 futures fell 1.59%, while Nasdaq-100 futures fell 1.6%.
— CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.
