Asian shares swoon and Kospi sinks 12%, as the war with Iran widens and oil surges higher

Associated Press (AP)CenterEN 6 min read 100% complete by By ELAINE KURTENBACHMarch 4, 2026 at 08:53 AM

AI Summary

long article 6 min

On Wednesday, March 4, 2026, Asian shares experienced a significant downturn, with the Kospi index in South Korea plummeting by 12%. This market decline occurred as the war with Iran escalated, contributing to a surge in oil prices. The stock decline was observed across Asia, with images from Tokyo and Seoul showing the impact on stock boards and trading activity. Dealers were seen monitoring the situation in real-time, particularly the Kospi and the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the South Korean won. The widening conflict with Iran is the likely cause for the economic downturn.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Kyodo News 30% Tokyo 40% Japan 50% Hana Bank ×450% Seoul ×360% Nikkei 60% South Korea ×470% Kospi ×375% Iran 80%

Keywords

kospi 90% war with iran 90% asian shares 80% oil surge 80% stock market 70% financial markets 60% foreign exchange rate 50%

Sentiment Analysis

Very Negative

Score: -0.70

Source Transparency

Source

Associated Press (AP)

Political Lean

Center (0.00)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

Iran

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

Network visualization showing 5 related topics

View Full Graph

kospi war with iran asian shares oil surge stock market financial markets foreign exchange rate

Explore Full Topic Graph

Find Similar Articles

AI-Powered

Discover articles with similar content using semantic similarity analysis.