Asian markets news: South Korea's Kospi crashes 5%, Japan's Nikkei tanks 4% - Factors behind plunge

Asian markets crashed on Monday, bringing back the spectre of a prolonged correction in the global markets on the back of US and Iran war. The trigger behind the today's crash was Iran launching missiles at Israel in the first such escalation since a ceasefire took effect in early April. 

Iran confirmed the attacks and closed its airspace anticipating a response from Israel. Iran's attack came after Israel launched fresh strikes in Beirut (Lebanon's capital o Sunday), just days after US and Iran had agreed to a truce following negotiations in Washington.

This raises the possibility of a return of heavy fighting and weakening of mediation efforts to end the war. 

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 4% or 2473 points to 64115. South Korea's Kospi lost 5.23% or 427 points to 7733.57. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 250 points or 1% to 24,704 and Shanghai Composite lost 1% or 41.86 pts to 3986. 

Indonesia's Jakarta Composite was also down 3.11% or 173 pts to 5421. 

On similar lines, US stock futures were trading in the red, indicating a weak opening for the market later in the day (evening-according to IST). 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average Futures fell 87 points to 50,788. S&P 500 Futures lost 200 pts to end 7383 and the Futures for Nasdaq Composite dropped 1121 points to 25,709.

The selloff is expected to spread across global indices was led by tech and AI-driven losses. 

However, Gifty Nifty rose 84 pts to 23,181, signalling a mildly postive start for the Indian stock market today. 

Brent crude oil prices also rose nearly 4% to $96.39 per barrel, indicating fears of global economic uncertainty on fresh attacks between Iran and Israel.