Asian shares decline as oil prices soar amid the war in Iran, echoing last week’s Wall Street drop

Asian shares decline as oil prices soar amid the war in Iran, echoing last week’s Wall Street drop 1 of 5 | Dealers work near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) 2 of 5 | Dealers work near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) 3 of 5 | A dealer walks near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) 4 of 5 | A person walks by an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei index in Tokyo Monday, March 30, 2026. (Yusuke Hashizume/Kyodo News via AP) 5 of 5 | Workers walk in an area at a degassing station in Zubair oil field, whose operations have being reduced due to the Mideast war triggered by the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, near Basra, Iraq, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) 1 of 5 Dealers work near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 2 of 5 Dealers work near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 3 of 5 A dealer walks near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 4 of 5 A person walks by an electronic stock board showing Japan’s Nikkei index in Tokyo Monday, March 30, 2026. (Yusuke Hashizume/Kyodo News via AP) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. 5 of 5 Workers walk in an area at a degassing station in Zubair oil field, whose operations have being reduced due to the Mideast war triggered by the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, near Basra, Iraq, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly dipped Monday, as worries continued about soaring oil prices and the potential for further escalation in the U.S. war with Iran. The drops in Asia follow the deep declines on Wall Street last Friday that finished off a fifth straight losing week, its longest such streak in nearly four years.Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 2.8% to finish at 51,885.85. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7% to 8,461.00. South Korea’s KOSPI dove 3.3% to 5,258.02. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.7% to 24,775.65, while the Shanghai Composite reversed course in the afternoon to be up 0.2% at 3,920.90.Worries have been great in Japan and the rest of Asia about the effective lack of access to the Strait of Hormuz because of the war in Iran, as the region relies greatly on such access for oil shipments. In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude jumped $1.07 to $100.71 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, soared $2.49 to $115.06 a barrel. Before the war, Brent had been priced at about $70 to a barrel. Investors are now bracing for the war to last for some time, which would likely set off inflation in global markets, and eventually may stunt Asia’s economic growth. “Although we do not expect the conflict to be protracted, we anticipate heightened volatility in the near term,” said Xavier Lee, senior equity analyst at Morningstar Research. Oil prices are again climbing after momentarily easing when President Donald Trump extended a self-imposed deadline to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants to April 6. On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 1.7% to close its worst week since the war with Iran began. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 793 points, or 1.7%, and fell more than 10% from its record set last month, while the Nasdaq composite sank 2.1%.The S&P 500 is 8.7% below its all-time high set in January. Big Tech stocks were among the heaviest weights on the market, including Amazon and Nvidia. All told, the S&P 500 fell 108.31 points to 6,368.85 last Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 793.47 to 45,166.64, and the Nasdaq composite sank 459.72 to 20,948.36. In the bond market, the yield for the 10-year Treasury rose as high as 4.48% before pulling back to end last week at 4.43%. That’s up from 4.42% late Thursday and from just 3.97% before the war began. Alarm has been resounding in Japan about the declining value of the yen. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 159.73 Japanese yen from 160.32 yen. The euro cost $1.1513, up from $1.1510. “In addition to the crude oil futures market, speculative activity is also said to be increasing in the foreign exchange market,” Vice Finance Minister Atsushi Mimura said.“As we have already stated, we will respond on all fronts, and our focus is spread in all directions,” he told reporters, without giving specifics on the possible action. ___AP journalist Ayaka McGill contributed to this report. Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama Kageyama covers Japan news for The Associated Press. Her topics include social issues, the environment, businesses, entertainment and technology.