From 17m agoIntroduction: Asian stocks fall as Iran and US exchange fireAsian stocks have fallen sharply after Iran and the US exchanged their biggest round of fire since a ceasefire was agreed in April.The US launched strikes against Iran after Donald Trump blamed Tehran for downing a US army helicopter near the strait of Hormuz.The attacks triggered a wave of retaliatory strikes from Iran on Wednesday morning, with Tehran saying it had targeted Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.Japan’s Nikkei index dropped 2%, while the tech-heavy South Korean Kospi slumped by about 6% – although it is still up by more than 70% in the year to date.However, oil prices have actually fallen a bit this morning, with Brent crude – the international benchmark – down 0.2% to $91.28 a barrel.Jim Reid at Deutsche Bank suggests that while investors are preoccupied with the conflict in the Middle East, “markets are also swinging between 1999-style AI exuberance and 2000-type tech crash fears.”
double quotation markOn the former, Brent briefly fell below $90 for the first time since April 17th yesterday before partially rebounding after Trump vowed retaliation following Iran shooting down a US helicopter. On the latter, the Philly Semiconductor Index fell by as much as -8.62% intra-day before recovering to -1.93% by the close.
