Fire breaks out at the Shahran oil depot after U.S. and Israeli attacks, leaving numerous fuel tankers and vehicles in the area unusable in Tehran, Iran, on March 8, 2026.
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Japan's Nikkei 225 and South Korea's Kospi both plunged about 6% in early trade Monday, leading a broader regional sell-off as oil prices breached $100 per barrel for the first time since 2022.
Japan's Nikkei 225 tumbled 6.22%, falling below the 53,000 mark for the first time since Feb. 6, while the Topix was down 5.27%.
South Korea's Kospi was down 6.68%, triggering a temporary trading halt for the Kospi 200 futures. The circuit breaker was also activated last week when the benchmark tumbled more than 12% Wednesday to record its worst single-day decline.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 3.68% in early trade.
Brent futures spiked 16.1% to $107.61, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose nearly 17.7% to $107.02.
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.
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.
"Only fools would think differently!" Trump added.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 25,328, below the index's last close of 25,757.29.
U.S. stock futures also tumbled on higher oil prices, with Dow Jones Industrial Average futures down over 800 points or 1.75% lower.
S&P 500 futures were down 1.59%, while Nasdaq-100 futures slid 1.6%.
— CNBC's Spencer Kimball contributed to this report.

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