Asian Shares Plummet as Middle Eastern Tensions Escalate
Asian shares and US futures declined on Tuesday as escalating conflict in the Middle East pushed oil prices higher. Houthi attacks on oil facilities and utilities in Saudi Arabia's southern region have intensified a renewed conflict between the US ally and Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 fell by 1.7% to 65,269.33 after major exporters were sold due to a surge in the value of the Japanese yen. Toyota Motor Corp. shed 4.1%, while electronics maker Panasonic Holdings Corp. fell 5.8%. The US dollar slipped to 153.73 Japanese yen from 154.34 yen.
The Japanese economy grew at a slightly faster annual pace in the April-June quarter than earlier reported, at 1.4%. Business investment was stronger than expected, though overall investment still contracted by 0.9%, according to Norihiro Yamaguchi of Oxford Economics.