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LONDON — World oil prices surged Monday as a fresh flare-up between the United States and Iran rattled investors, while a selloff in chipmakers sent South Korea's stock market plunging.
European equities were muted and the dollar was mixed against main rivals.
"While [oil] prices are still not at crisis levels, the creep upwards will ignite fresh inflationary worries and concerns about how far higher interest rates could move," noted Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at Wealth Club.
"That's being reflected in the bond markets, with yields on gilts and US Treasuries rising," she added.
Renewed hostilities in the Middle East followed last week's exchange of fire and came as negotiators struggle to reach a lasting peace deal to keep the crucial Strait of Hormuz open.
The United States struck Iran for the second day running Monday, prompting Tehran to retaliate against US allies in the Gulf, as the two sides battle over the status of the strategic waterway.
Brent North Sea crude, the international benchmark, rallied as much as five percent Monday, before paring gains to trade around 3.5 per cent higher.
The main US contract, West Texas Intermediate, also spiked.
Kospi tanks
On equity markets, tech firms came under renewed selling pressure after weeks of volatility fuelled by concerns about stretched valuations and questions over the vast sums pumped into the AI sector.
South Korean chip titan SK hynix plunged more than 15 per cent, extending a recent bout of selling that has seen the market heavyweight lose nearly 40 per cent since hitting a record last month.
The loss came after the firm's US-listed shares soared almost 13 per cent on their New York debut following a record $26.5 billion share sale.
Rival Samsung was down more than 10 percent by Monday's close.
"The South Korean market is now considered a key barometer of sentiment towards the chip sector, so when it declines it can have ripple effects across the world," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading group XTB.
There were also losses in Tokyo, where tech firms Advantest and Tokyo Electron tumbled.
Shanghai, Singapore, Wellington, Mumbai and Jakarta dropped but Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok rose.
Investors are gearing up for the latest earnings season, which will be pored over for an idea about the outlook for the AI industry.
This week sees reports from Taiwanese chip giant TSMC and Dutch firm ASML, which produces chipmaking equipment.
A number of Wall Street banks are also lined up to file, including JP Morgan, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs.
