New clashes between the US and Iran rippled through global markets on Monday, pushing up oil prices while sending stocks lower.Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, rose 4.1 per cent to $79.12 (€69.37) a barrel. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 pointed to the indices opening down 1.2 per cent and 0.5 per cent respectively.In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi fell 8 per cent, triggering a trading halt, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 2 per cent and China’s CSI 300 lost 1.7 per cent.The dollar strengthened 0.2 per cent against a basket of key trading partners, while yields on 10-year US Treasuries rose 0.02 percentage points to 4.58 per cent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.“It’s global risk off,” said Jason Lui, head of Asia-Pacific equity and derivative strategy at BNP Paribas.“An asset liquidation process is and has been taking place,” said Albert Saporta, group chief executive of GAM Holding, adding that he thought there was a “secular bear market in the making”.The market moves came after the US carried out more strikes on Iran, sparking retaliation from Tehran.Hostilities have escalated over control of the Strait of Hormuz in the past week, putting a ceasefire agreement between the two sides on the verge of collapse and risking a return to full-scale war.“The recent oil price rally, driven by tanker attacks and renewed US-Iran strikes, demonstrates how critical Hormuz flows remain for prices in the short term,” Goldman Sachs analysts wrote in a note.In Asia, companies making artificial intelligence (AI) memory chips suffered the sharpest declines as investors took profits from a roaring rally.SK Hynix tumbled more than 13 per cent, Japanese chipmaker Kioxia fell more than 12 per cent and Samsung Electronics retreated 9 per cent. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026