Saturday, March 9, 2024, MLB Store in Myeong-dong shopping district in Seoul, South Korea.
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SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific markets opened lower on Wednesday morning after a poor start to the trading month on Wall Street, with major indexes lower amid rising tensions in the Middle East.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index opened 0.2% lower, while Japanese stocks fell 0.2%. Nikkei Stock Average The stock opened 1.5% lower. South Korea's Kospi fell 1%, and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.8%.
hong kong hansen index Futures were at 20,768, below HSI's last closing price of 21,133.68. Markets in mainland China are closed on Wednesday and will remain closed for the rest of this week due to the Golden Week holiday.
Asian traders were evaluating data on South Korea's consumer inflation. country consumer price index Data on Wednesday morning showed a 1.6% rise in September compared to the same month a year earlier, below the 1.9% rise expected by economists polled by Reuters.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 173 points overnight, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite down 0.93% and 1.53%, respectively. Oil prices and the CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) soared after Iran fired a ballistic missile at Israel. The attack came as Israel launched a ground operation into Lebanon amid rising tensions with the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is devastated by the Iranian missile attack. I failed and swore revenge.. “Tonight Iran made a huge mistake, and it will definitely pay the price,” he said, according to NBC News, adding, “Iran's regime understands our determination to defend ourselves and our determination to retaliate against our enemies.” “I haven't,” he added.
—CNBC's Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
