BENGALURU: Emerging Asian equities fell on Thursday after renewed US strikes on Iran pushed oil prices higher, though most benchmark indexes recouped part of their early losses after the week’s sharp selloff.
The MSCI emerging Asia equities index was down 0.5 percent after falling nearly 2 percent earlier in the session. South Korea’s KOSPI ended slightly higher after falling as much as 4.4 percent at the open, helped by a 2.6 percent gain in chipmaker SK Hynix.
Regional equities earlier this week posted their biggest drop in three months as escalating Middle East tensions and rising expectations of a Federal Reserve rate hike dampened risk appetite. The US launched new strikes against multiple targets overnight in Iran, in response to which Iran announced a closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Crude prices rose more than USD1 a barrel on the escalation.
Uncertainty over a Middle East peace deal and a decline in AI stocks led to USD27.08 billion in foreign outflows from regional stocks this month.