TOKYO- Most Asian stock markets sank on Wednesday, catching up with the sell-off on Wall Street after Iran’s ballistic missile strike on Israel provoked fears of a wider regional conflict, while crude oil pushed higher on the risk of supply disruptions.
Investors flocked to safer assets, keeping US Treasury yields depressed in Asian time, while gold traded not far from an all-time high.
The safe-haven dollar traded close to its strongest in three weeks versus the euro. Macroeconomics also buoyed the dollar, with a resilient US job market arguing for a smaller Federal Reserve interest-rate cut in November, and euro zone inflation trends backing a European Central Bank easing this month.
Japan’s Nikkei slumped 2 percent as of 0444 GMT, while South Korea’s KOSPI dropped 0.6 percent.
However, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng soared 6 percent as Beijing’s stimulus push continued to buoy sentiment.
That helped to lift MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares 0.6 percent, despite broadly fragile investor sentiment.
Mainland Chinese markets were shut for the week-long Golden Week holiday. Trading in Taiwan was suspended due to a typhoon.
US S&P 500 stock index futures weakened 0.15 percent, after the cash index lost 0.9 percent overnight.
But pan-European STOXX 50 futures pointed up 0.4 percent.
“In the chain of potential market volatility shocks, geopolitics will typically trump economics, corporate earnings, or a central bank response – largely because most market players are poor at pricing risk around these events,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.
“While these events typically reconcile in a market-positive fashion, the tail risk it can throw up is clearly significant,” Weston said. “The situation remains fluid, and the slightest calming or increased aggression in the rhetoric from Israel or Iran could result in a sizeable impact on sentiment in markets.”
Iran said early on Wednesday that its missile attack on Israel was finished barring further provocation, although Israel and the US promised retaliation.
