Asia-Pacific markets fall as Israel-Iran tensions spike; spotlight on oil, gold and bitcoin

Asia-Pacific
markets
slipped
Monday
as
traders
weighed
the
impact
of
Iran’s
massive
drone
and
missile
attacks
on
Israel
over
the
weekend,
with
focus
also
on
key
economic
data
from
China
and
Japan
later
in
the
week.

Iran
launched more
than
300
drones
and
missiles against
military
targets
in
Israel
on
Saturday
in
an
attack
that
President
Joe
Biden
described
as “unprecedented.”

The
U.S.
intervened
to
directly
help
Israel
shoot
down
nearly
all
of
the
incoming
munitions,
Biden
said
in
a
statement
Saturday.

Oil
prices
were
little
changed
on
Monday
morning,
with


Brent
crude
futures
trading
0.14%
down
at
$90.32
per
barrel
and


U.S.
West
Texas
Intermediate
futures
were
trading
0.32%
lower
at
$85.39.

India
will
release
its
wholesale
inflation
figures
for
March
later
in
the
day,
while
China
will
announce
its
first
quarter
GDP
numbers
on
Tuesday.
Japan
will
release
its
March
trade
data
and
inflation
numbers
on
Wednesday
and
Friday,
respectively.

Japan’s


Nikkei
225
fell
1.278,
while
the
broad-based
Topix
was
down
0.76%.

South
Korea’s
Kospi
slid
1.19%,
while
the
small-cap
Kosdaq
dropped
1.55%.

In
Australia,
the S&P/ASX
200
saw
a
smaller
loss
compared
to
other
Asian
markets
and
fell
0.67%.

Hong
Kong’s

Hang
Seng
index
was
1.5%
lower,
while
mainland
China’s
CSI300
bucked
the
trend
and
gained
nearly
1%.

U.S.
stock
futures
ticked
higher
Sunday
as
investors
assessed
Iran’s
missile
and
drone
strike
on
Israel,
as
well
as
a
spike
in
equity
market
volatility
that
sent
the


Dow
Jones
Industrial
Average
to
its
worst
week
of
the
year
last
week.

Futures
tied
to
the
Dow
Jones
Industrial
Average
rose
90
points,
or
0.2%.


S&P
500
futures
added
0.2%
and


Nasdaq-100
futures
advanced
0.3%.

Gold
futures
pulled
back
slightly
at
$2,373
an
ounce.
Bullion
hit
a
record
level
last
week
and
is
up
15%
this
year
as
investors
seek
safety
from
sticky
inflation
and
geopolitical
tensions.

—
CNBC’s
Hakyung
Kim
contributed
to
this
report.