HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stocks tumbled Friday, with Japan’s Nikkei slumping 2.4% on heavy selling of semiconductor-related shares and other market heavyweights.
Tensions in the Middle East were weighing on sentiment across the region, and U.S. futures were sharply lower.
Oil prices jumped as the state-run IRNA news agency reported that Iran fired air defense batteries early Friday morning after reports of explosions near the city of Isfahan.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 2.4% to 37,156.54, paring losses in the early trading when it plunged 3.5%.
Semiconductor equipment supplier Lasertec was the largest loser, which lost 8.4%. But most other big tech-related shares also dropped. Renesas gave up 6%, Tokyo Electron lost 8.7% and Sony Group Corp. declined 1.8%.
Toyota Motor Corp was down 2.2%.
Japan’s headline inflation rate slowed to 2.7% in March, the government reported, while the core-core index, excluding fresh food and energy costs, moderated to 2.9%, marking the first time since November 2022 that it fell below 3%.
Ilhan Omar's activist daughter Isra Hirsi is suspended from Barnard College over anti
OJ Simpson death: Who was he, was he ever convicted, and why was he acquitted?
UK's shoegaze pioneers Slowdive to bring their ambient pop to HK
AI photos show people with secondary breast cancer their lost future
What happened to Hu Jintao? Xi Jinping takes firmer control of China
VOX POPULI: Time to end the excessive pursuit of convenience with deliveries
VOX POPULI: Vertical writing an indispensable part of thinking in Japanese
$300,000 of stolen Legos recovered by retail theft task force
As Ben Affleck's daughter comes out as 'Fin', why are so many A
UK's shoegaze pioneers Slowdive to bring their ambient pop to HK