{"id":530439,"date":"2026-03-12T02:27:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T02:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/530439\/"},"modified":"2026-03-12T02:27:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T02:27:09","slug":"nikkei-225-hang-seng-index-kospi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/530439\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikkei 225, Hang Seng Index, Kospi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pump jacks operate in a field on March 11, 2026 in Gillett, Texas.<\/p>\n

Brandon Bell | Getty Images<\/p>\n

Asia-Pacific markets fell Thursday as investors grappled with volatile oil prices and escalating tensions in the Middle East, even after the U.S. and its allies announced an unprecedented emergency release of crude reserves to calm energy markets.<\/p>\n

The International Energy Agency is looking to release 400 million barrels of oil following the supply disruption owed to the Iran war, the largest such action in the organization’s history. The IEA did not set out a timeline for when the stocks would hit the market.<\/p>\n

The U.S. will release 172 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to help lower energy costs, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Wednesday evening stateside.<\/p>\n

The announcement comes after President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0said earlier in the day that he would tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to keep a lid on energy prices.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0West Texas Intermediate<\/a> was up over 6% at $92.91 per barrel as of 8.07 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Australia’s\u00a0S&P\/ASX 200<\/a> declined 1.56%.<\/p>\n

Japan’s Nikkei 225<\/a> slid 1.6%, while the Topix lost 1.34%. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.75%.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong Hang Seng index<\/a> slid 0.5%, while the CSI 300 opened flat.<\/p>\n

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon\"hide<\/p>\n

Overnight in the U.S., the\u00a0Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a>\u00a0fell as investors continued to eye developments in the U.S.-Iran war and\u00a0oil prices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 30-stock index shed 289.24 points, or 0.61%, to close at 47,417.27. The\u00a0S&P 500<\/a>\u00a0inched down 0.08% to settle at 6,775.80, while the\u00a0Nasdaq Composite<\/a>\u00a0ticked up 0.08% to end the session at 22,716.13. <\/p>\n

West Texas Intermediate futures<\/a>\u00a0climbed more than 4% to settle at $87.25 per barrel on Wednesday.\u00a0Brent crude<\/a>\u00a0gained about 4.8% to end the session at $91.98 per barrel.<\/p>\n

Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pump jacks operate in a field on March 11, 2026 in Gillett, Texas. Brandon Bell | Getty Images…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[203610,202223,2840,1386,45,161,49,48,6508,6681,87285,1377,1376,6510,189145,195739,5897,2454,195736,87282,100,93365,9691,772,197951,195735],"class_list":{"0":"post-530439","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-lco26k","9":"tag-lco26q","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-breaking-news-markets","12":"tag-business","13":"tag-business-news","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-chevron-corp","17":"tag-chicago","18":"tag-conocophillips","19":"tag-donald-j-trump","20":"tag-donald-trump","21":"tag-exxon-mobil-corp","22":"tag-fidelity-nasdaq-composite-index-track","23":"tag-invesco-db-oil-fund","24":"tag-iran","25":"tag-japan","26":"tag-lp","27":"tag-marathon-petroleum-corp","28":"tag-markets","29":"tag-occidental-petroleum-equity-warrants-exp-3rd-august-2027","30":"tag-osaka","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-united-states-brent-oil-fund","33":"tag-united-states-oil-fund"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=530439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/530440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}