Japan’s Nikkei 225<\/a> tumbled 6.05%, falling below the 53,000 mark for the first time since Feb. 6, while the Topix was down 5.27%. <\/p>\n Softbank Group Corp<\/a> was among the largest loser on the index, falling nearly 10%, while chip-related stocks such as Advantest<\/a> and Lasertec<\/a> was also down over 10% and 9%, respectively.<\/p>\n South Korea’s Kospi was down 6.5%, triggering a temporary trading halt<\/a> for the Kospi 200 futures. A circuit breaker was activated last week when the benchmark tumbled more than 12% Wednesday to record its worst single-day decline<\/a>.<\/p>\n Heavyweight Samsung Electronics tumbled 8.4%, while chip counterpart SK Hynix saw a larger loss of 9.2%. <\/p>\n Australia’s\u00a0S&P\/ASX 200<\/a> fell 3.68% in early trade.<\/p>\n Brent futures<\/a> spiked 16.1% to $107.61, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures<\/a> rose nearly 17.7% to $107.02. <\/p>\n The surge comes after major Middle Eastern oil producers, including Kuwait, Iran and the United Arab Emirates, cut oil production following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/a> <\/p>\n Stock Chart IconStock chart icon U.S. President Donald Trump, however, posted on Truth Social that a gain in “short term oil prices” was a “very small price to pay” for destroying Iran’s nuclear threat.<\/p>\n “Only fools would think differently!” Trump added.<\/p>\n Hong Kong Hang Seng index<\/a> futures were at 25,328, below the index’s last close of 25,757.29.<\/p>\n U.S. stock futures also tumbled on higher oil prices, with\u00a0Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a>\u00a0futures down over 800 points or 1.75% lower. <\/p>\n S&P 500 futures were down 1.59%, while Nasdaq-100 futures slid 1.6%.<\/p>\n \u2014 CNBC’s Spencer Kimball contributed to this report. <\/p>\n![\"hide](\"https:\/\/static-redesign.cnbcfm.com\/dist\/a54b41835a8b60db28c2.svg\")
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