{"id":571898,"date":"2026-03-31T01:33:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/571898\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T01:33:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:33:09","slug":"asia-pacific-markets-fall-amid-crude-oil-prices-volatility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/571898\/","title":{"rendered":"Asia-Pacific markets fall amid crude oil prices volatility"},"content":{"rendered":"

A view of missile traces launched from Yemen at Israel sighted in the sky over Hebron, West Bank, on March 28, 2026.<\/p>\n

Wisam Hashlamoun | Anadolu | Getty Images<\/p>\n

Asia-Pacific markets declined on Tuesday, with South Korea leading the losses, as rising crude oil prices and the raging Middle East conflict keeps investors on edge.<\/p>\n

U.S. President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0escalated his threat on Monday, saying that the U.S. would destroy Iran’s electricity-generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, if the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz remains closed and no peace deal is reached to end the war. <\/p>\n

His remarks came as the Iran war entered its fifth week and as the Trump administration weighs sending in ground forces to seize Kharg Island, a major fuel hub that facilitates 90% of Iran’s crude exports. <\/p>\n

Shipping traffic through the Hormuz waterway, through which a fifth of the global seaborne oil used to transit before the conflict, has virtually ground to a halt since U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0West Texas Intermediate<\/a> rose 2.8% to $105.8 per barrel. May futures for the International benchmark\u00a0Brent crude<\/a>\u00a0surged 2% to $115.17 per barrel. <\/p>\n

South Korea’s blue-chip Kospi led the losses in Asia, dropping over 4% while the small-cap Kosdaq\u00a0lost more than 3%. The Korean won depreciated 0.63% to 1,526.9 against the U.S. dollar, hitting its weakest level since 2009. <\/p>\n

Japan’s Nikkei 225<\/a> dropped 2.2% while the broad-based Topix\u00a0slid 1.4%. <\/p>\n

Australia’s\u00a0S&P\/ASX 200<\/a> tumbled 0.56%. <\/p>\n

Hong Kong Hang Seng index<\/a> futures were at 24,683, compared with the index’s last close of 24,750.8.<\/p>\n

Stock Chart IconStock chart icon\"hide<\/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":"A view of missile traces launched from Yemen at Israel sighted in the sky over Hebron, West Bank,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[215039,203610,202223,2840,1386,45,161,49,48,6508,6681,87285,1377,1376,6510,189145,7155,12918,195739,5897,193642,198758,96322,203604,2454,195736,87282,100,12921,93365,9691,202226,12920,18262,772,197951,195735,7136],"class_list":{"0":"post-571898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-cl26k","9":"tag-lco26k","10":"tag-lco26q","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-breaking-news-markets","13":"tag-business","14":"tag-business-news","15":"tag-ca","16":"tag-canada","17":"tag-chevron-corp","18":"tag-chicago","19":"tag-conocophillips","20":"tag-donald-j-trump","21":"tag-donald-trump","22":"tag-exxon-mobil-corp","23":"tag-fidelity-nasdaq-composite-index-track","24":"tag-halliburton-co","25":"tag-hang-seng-index","26":"tag-invesco-db-oil-fund","27":"tag-iran","28":"tag-ishares-msci-australia-etf","29":"tag-ishares-msci-hong-kong-etf","30":"tag-ishares-msci-japan-etf","31":"tag-ishares-msci-south-korea-etf","32":"tag-japan","33":"tag-lp","34":"tag-marathon-petroleum-corp","35":"tag-markets","36":"tag-nikkei-225-index","37":"tag-occidental-petroleum-equity-warrants-exp-3rd-august-2027","38":"tag-osaka","39":"tag-proshares-ultra-bloomberg-crude-oil","40":"tag-sp-asx-200","41":"tag-south-korea","42":"tag-united-states","43":"tag-united-states-brent-oil-fund","44":"tag-united-states-oil-fund","45":"tag-valero-energy-corp"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571898","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=571898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}