Nikkei Average Down over 4,000 Points amid Crude Surge

Tokyo, March 9 (Jiji Press)–Tokyo stocks plummeted Monday morning due to a surge in crude oil prices attributed to rising Middle East tensions, sending the key Nikkei 225 average tumbling more than 4,000 points temporarily. The Nikkei index finished the morning at 51,740.46, down 3,880.38 points, or 6.97 pct, from Friday’s closing, slipping below 52,000 for the first time since Jan. 9. In off-hours trading Sunday, key U.S. crude oil futures shot up to hit 119 dollars per barrel, up 31 pct from late last week and hitting the highest level since June 2022, which was after the start of Russia’s full-fledged aggression against Ukraine in late February that year. The surge came as anxiety about crude oil supplies grew further after the Israeli military said Saturday that it has conducted airstrikes on oil storage facilities in Tehran, apparently marking the first time that any Iranian oil facility has been targeted since the United States and Israel began their military operations against Iran on Feb. 28. A wide range of stocks met with selling on the Tokyo market Monday because investors grew increasingly concerned that the Iran conflict will not end anytime soon following news that Mojtaba Khamenei, the second son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was selected as the country’s new supreme leader to succeed his father, who was killed in the U.S.-Israeli attacks, market sources said. “Investors believe that a drastic change in Iran’s regime is unlikely, meaning that there is a risk that both the conflict and the soaring oil prices will be a long-term thing if Tehran maintains its staunch anti-U.S. policy,” a securities house official said. Also behind the plunge in Tokyo stocks was a drop in the U.S. equity market Friday, which was traced to worries about a U.S. economic slowdown due to disappointing U.S. employment data for February, released the same day, the market sources said. Tokyo currency trading Monday morning saw a raft of safe-haven dollar buying amid concerns over a possible prolonged Middle East conflict. At noon, the dollar stood at 158.68-69 yen, up from 157.52-53 yen at 5 p.m. Friday. Meanwhile, the key yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds, the country’s benchmark long-term interest rate, rose to 2.225 pct in Tokyo trading Monday morning. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]