Asian shares mostly declined Thursday following what the U.S. military said were defensive strikes against Iran. Oil prices gained more than $1 a barrel after having dropped sharply a day before. U.S. futures inched lower.U.S. officials said Central Command forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that posed a threat near the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. military also hit an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump asserted that Iran is “negotiating on fumes” and said November’s midterm elections in the United States won’t make him rush into a deal to end the nearly three-month-old conflict.In early Asian trading, Japan’s Nikkei 225 edged less than 0.1% higher to 65,039.78, while the Kospi in South Korea lost 1.2% to 8,126.67.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 1.9% to 24,855.86 and the Shanghai Composite index fell 0.3% to 4,080.00.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.8% to 8,646.30, while Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.6%. “Conflicting reports on the contours of a U.S.-Iran deal dampened risks sentiments as markets grow increasingly wary about the possibility of a deal,” Tan Boon Heng of Mizuho Bank in Singapore said in a commentary.
