Asia markets set to fall amid Israel-Iran tensions with spotlight on oil and bitcoin

Asia-Pacific markets were set to fall Monday as traders weighed the impact of Iran’s drone attack on Israel over the weekend, with focus also on key economic data from China and Japan later in the week.

Iran launched more than 300 drones and missiles against military targets in Israel on Saturday in an attack that President Joe Biden described as “unprecedented.”

The U.S. intervened to directly help Israel shoot down nearly all of the incoming munitions, Biden said in a statement Saturday.

Oil prices were little changed on Monday morning, with Brent crude futures trading 0.02% up at $90.47 per barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures 0.13% lower at $85.55.

India will release its wholesale inflation figures for March later in the day, while China will announce its first quarter GDP numbers on Tuesday. Japan will release its March trade data and inflation numbers on Wednesday and Friday, respectively.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was set to fall, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,195 and its counterpart in Osaka at 38,850 against the index’s last close of 39,523.55.

In Australia, futures for the S&P/ASX 200 pointed to a lower open at 7,772 compared to its last close of 7,788.1.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 16,476, pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s close of 16,721.69.

U.S. stock futures ticked higher Sunday as investors assessed Iran’s missile and drone strike on Israel, as well as a spike in equity market volatility that sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average to its worst week of the year last week.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 90 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures added 0.2% and Nasdaq-100 futures advanced 0.3%.

Gold futures pulled back slightly at $2,373 an ounce. Bullion hit a record level last week and is up 15% this year as investors seek safety from sticky inflation and geopolitical tensions.

— CNBC’s Hakyung Kim contributed to this report.