- A drop in Asian stocks was attributed to heightened risk aversion brought in the Middle East.
- US officials revealed that Israel had attacked Iran with missiles in retaliation for Tehran’s attack the previous weekend.
- Taiwan’s benchmark equity index fell as high as 5%, the most since May 2021.
A drop in Asian stocks was attributed to heightened risk aversion brought on by worries about tensions in the Middle East and rising US interest rates.
According to the hawkish remarks made by the Federal Reserve, rate reductions in 2024 may be postponed until the end of the year, if they happen at all. As news of explosions in Iran, Syria, and Iraq surfaced, losses increased. Later, US officials revealed that Israel had attacked Iran with missiles in retaliation for Tehran’s attack the previous weekend.
Asian stocks
The largest drag on the regional benchmark was heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which caused the MSCI Asia Pacific Index to drop as much as 2.6%.
The chipmaker lowered its growth projections and issued a warning that the personal computer and smartphone sectors are still fragile. Following Israeli strikes on Iran, investors sold down stocks due to geopolitical anxiety that they feared would spread and perhaps disrupt global oil supplies.
Taiwan’s benchmark equity index fell as high as 5%, the most since May 2021, while major Japanese and Korean gauges fell by over 3% each. While US equities futures and Bitcoin fell, the price of gold, oil, and the currency all increased in international markets.
Amid concerns over US monetary policy and geopolitical tensions, risk sentiment around the world has soured, sending stocks in the Asia-Pacific region plunging more than 5% this week, heading towards their largest weekly decline since June 2022.
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