Japanese, South Korean, and Taiwanese stocks plunged; South Korea's stock market tumbled 8%, triggering a circuit breaker. Samsung Electronics fell 10% at the open, and TSMC dropped 5.7%.

Japanese, South Korean, and Taiwanese stocks plunged; South Korea's stock market tumbled 8%, triggering a circuit breaker. Samsung Electronics fell 10% at the open, and TSMC dropped 5.7%.

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The US-Iran ceasefire agreement is in jeopardy, compounded by last week’s strong employment data boosting rate hike expectations, global risk assets have taken multiple hits.

Iran launched several rounds of missiles at Israel, causing an already fragile Middle East ceasefire situation to become increasingly critical. Asia-Pacific stock markets opened sharply lower on Monday, with South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index plunging over 8%, triggering circuit breakers; Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped about 3.4%; Taiwan’s weighted stock index fell 5.4% at the open, and TSMC dropped 5.7%.

Previously, Korea’s stock market was one of the world’s best-performing major markets this year, led by gains in AI-related stocks. However, this round of selling quickly erased that advantage. Meanwhile, the Korean won’s exchange rate hit its lowest level since 2009, prompting Korea’s government to announce a series of measures to curb pressure on the currency.

US stock futures weakened simultaneously, with Nasdaq 100 futures turning up 0.3% after an early decline.

This impact comes at a time when US stocks are already showing signs of fatigue. Last Friday, the Nasdaq Composite plunged 4.18%, marking the biggest single-day decline since April 2025; the S&P 500 fell 2.64%, failing to achieve ten consecutive weeks of gains; the Dow dropped 695 points in a single day.

The trigger for this selling was the stronger-than-expected May jobs report—raising market bets on Fed rate hikes, which fueled concerns that high financing costs will constrain AI investment growth.

This week, investors face two major events. On Wednesday and Thursday, the US will release May consumer price index (CPI) and producer price index (PPI), respectively, with markets expecting both data sets to show persistent inflationary pressure.

On Friday, Musk’s SpaceX will officially launch its IPO, expected to be one of Wall Street’s largest IPOs in history and also the most important test of the market’s AI valuation narrative.

Update as of 8:46:

South Korea’s composite stock index plunged over 8%, triggering trading suspension mechanisms; after circuit breakers were lifted and trading resumed, Korea’s stock market losses narrowed to less than 5%.

Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix led the declines, with Samsung Electronics plummeting 10% at the open.

Nikkei 225 index fell about 3.4%, the TOPIX index lost over 1%; MSCI Asia stock index as a whole dropped 1.6%.

Brent crude oil prices rose 2.4% to $95.33 per barrel, WTI crude rose 2.2% to $92.57 per barrel.

Gold spot prices opened lower but moved higher, up 0.38% to $4343.80 per ounce at press time.

The cryptocurrency market bucked the trend, with Bitcoin up 2.2% to $63,181.45, and Ethereum up 3.5% to $1,684.87.

Continuously updating...

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