Morning highlights: Brent at $97 after strikes in the Middle East, Asian tech giants collapse

Oil prices jumped more than 4.5% after the exchange of blows between Iran and Israel, with Tehran saying a deal with the U.S. had become all but impossible. Amid the escalation and following Friday's collapse in U.S. stock indexes, Asian tech stocks fell sharply. About these and other topics - in our review of key events for the morning of June 8.

Iran launched rockets at Israel on Sunday, accusing the U.S. of violating the terms of a truce over a naval blockade and expanding Israel's operation in Lebanon. Israel reported intercepting the missiles and retaliated with strikes on military installations in western and central Iran, CNBC reported.

The renewed fighting has complicated peace talks. US President Donald Trump said the attacks would not help the diplomatic process. Iranian representatives warned of the possibility of a wider response and questioned the prospects for a deal.

Oil prices rose more than 4.5% as the new escalation heightened fears of a protracted conflict. Futures for the benchmark Mark Brent rose to $97.5 per barrel, while North American WTI contracts traded at $94.7.

Additional support for the oil market was provided by OPEC+ decision to increase production quotas by 188,000 bpd from July - this is the fourth increase in limits after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Shares of Asia's largest technology companies fell sharply following the collapse of the Nasdaq on the evening of June 5. Memory chip makers Samsung and SK Hynix lost 6.2% and 3% of value, respectively. Quotes of contract chipmaker TSMC fell by 2.5%. The securities of Foxconn, which assembles Apple gadgets and is also a supplier to Nvidia, collapsed by 5.5%. Japan's SoftBank, the country's most expensive company, collapsed 6.6%. This pulled down the region's major stock indices as well.

The reason for the sell-off was the weak forecast of Broadcom, which caused a sell-off that reduced the capitalization of companies from the S&P 500 index by about $1.8 trillion, CNBCwrites. The escalating conflict between Iran and Israel also added to investors' worries. UOB analysts note that interest in the AI sector may be supported by this week's expected largest IPO in history - the listing of SpaceX.

The volume of deals to buy software developers fell to $50 billion in the first five months of 2026 from $88 billion a year earlier. This is the lowest level since pandemic 2020, the Financial Times writes. Investors and private equity funds fear that the development of artificial intelligence could radically change the business models of many software companies and makes it difficult to assess their future value, the publication explains.

The launch of Anthropic's new AI tools earlier this year had a particularly strong impact on market sentiment, increasing doubts about the prospects of traditional software. Despite some deals, including the purchase of Rightsline by investor HG for about $500 mln, market participants do not yet see signs of a recovery in activity and prefer to invest in sectors less exposed to AI-related risks.

- Japan's broad Topix index collapsed 3.2 percent, while the Nikkei 225 fell 4.6 percent.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 1.8 percent, while mainland China's CSI 300 Index fell 2.7 percent.

- In South Korea, the Kospi index lost 5.8% and was down 7% at its peak. Kosdaq collapsed by 8%.

- Australia's ASX exchange is closed due to holidays.

- Futures on the S&P 500 fell by 0.1%, futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average - by 0.5%. Exchange-traded contracts on Nasdaq Composite in a slight minus.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor