Asia-Pacific markets fall as Israel-Iran tensions spike; spotlight on oil, gold and bitcoin

Asia-Pacific markets slipped Monday as traders weighed the impact of Iran’s massive drone and missile attacks 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 0.14% down at $90.32 per barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were trading 0.32% lower at $85.39.

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 fell 1.278, while the broad-based Topix was down 0.76%.

South Korea’s Kospi slid 1.19%, while the small-cap Kosdaq dropped 1.55%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 saw a smaller loss compared to other Asian markets and fell 0.67%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 1.5% lower, while mainland China’s CSI300 bucked the trend and gained nearly 1%.

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.