TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares skidded Monday after worries about Big Tech investments and rising odds for an interest rate hike gave U.S. stocks their worst day since October. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 dropped 4.2% to 63,804.77. The Japanese government revised the annualized economic growth rate to 1.8% for the first quarter this year, down from an earlier estimate of 2.1%. Oil prices surged as Israel launched airstrikes early Monday targeting central and western Iran in response to missile fire. Iranian state television reported the sound of explosions being heard in Isfahan, Tabriz and Tehran, without immediately elaborating. American and Iranian negotiators reached a tentative deal last week to extend their ceasefire, but the agreement has not been finalized and the latest attacks further strain efforts to end the conflict. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped $3.50 to $96.59 a barrel. Benchmark U.S. crude surged $3.48 to $94.02 a barrel.
In other share trading, South Korea’s Kospi slipped 6.8% to 7,605.42 as Samsung Electronics, the country’s biggest company, dropped 7%. SK Hynix declined 3.3%.
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Taiwan’s Taiex lost 3.8%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.3% to 24,631.64. The Shanghai Composite shed 1.1% to 3,984.75.Trading was closed in Australia for the King’s Birthday, a holiday. Wall Street finished last week with the S&P 500 sinking 2.6%, to 7,383.74, after a strong jobs report boosted expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise rates at some point this year.
