Global markets begin second week in a row with universal crash as US-Israel war in Iran continues

South Korea’s Kospi led another brutal sell-off across Asia on Monday after it triggered its second circuit breaker in four sessions, as oil surged toward $120 a barrel for the first time since 2022.

The index fell more than 8%, forcing a 20-minute trading halt from 10:31 a.m. local time, and was last down 9%.

The oil shock kept getting worse. Brent crude jumped 26.1% to $116.08 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate climbed 27.6% to $116.03. According to LSEG data, that was the biggest one-day gain in oil since late 1988.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 tumbled 7.05%, dropping below the 52,000 level for the first time since January, while the Topix fell 5.36%.

Among the biggest losers, SoftBank dropped more than 11%. Chip stocks also got hammered, with Advantest down more than 13% and Lasertec off more than 11%.

Losses in China were smaller, but markets were still in the red. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 2.75%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 lost 1.65%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 3.2%, though that was off its session lows.

The broader market board showed heavy losses across the region. Australia’s ASX 200 stood at 8,599.00, down 252.00 points or 2.85%. The Hang Seng was at 25,198.62, down 558.67 points or 2.17%.

The Kospi was at 5,138.08, down 446.79 points or 8.00%. Japan’s Nikkei stood at 52,303.22, down 3,317.62 points or 5.96%. India’s Nifty 50 was at 23,861.45, down 589.00 points or 2.41%. Shanghai was at 4,090.614, down 33.58 points or 0.81%.

In the metals market, bullion dropped as much as 3% to around $5,015 an ounce after posting its first weekly decline in more than a month, before cutting some of those losses.

By press time, spot gold was down 2.1% at $5,006 an ounce. Silver fell 1.9% to $82, platinum lost 2%, and palladium slipped by 1%. At the same time, the DXY Dollar Index rose 0.6% after climbing 1.3% last week.

The pressure was already spreading to Wall Street before the US cash session even began. Dow futures fell 1,026 points, or 2.33%. S&P 500 futures lost 2.05%, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 2.34%.

On Truth Social, Donald Trump said higher short-term oil prices were “a very small price to pay” for destroying Iran’s nuclear threat. He added: “Only fools would think differently!”