Asia Stocks Dive as Oil Spikes on Iran Crisis

(Nikkei Asia) — Asian stocks were hit hard on Monday as the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran drove up oil prices and worries swirled over the economic fallout from the conflict amid signs tensions are broadening across the Middle East.

South Korea and Japan led falls in the region.

The KOSPI had dropped almost 9% at one point, triggering the Korea Exchange to issue a circuit breaker on trading, before ending the day down 6%. KOSPI heavyweights SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics declined nearly 10% and 8%, respectively.