Stocks in Asia fell, the greenback firmed and oil rose on Thursday after US President Donald Trump said Washington's "core strategic objectives" in the Iran war were nearing completion, but ⁠stopped short of providing a clear outline of when the conflict would end.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index opened down 39 points, or 0.2 percent, at 25,254 and went deeper into the red soon after to being 268 points, or 1.06 percent, down at 25,025 at one point before 11am.

The China enterprises index opened down 27 points, or 0.3 percent, at 8,477 while the tech index was down 23 points, or 0.5 percent, at 4,732.

On the mainland, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index opened down almost eight points, or 0.2 percent, at 3,940.

The Shenzhen Component Index was 48 points, or 0.35 percent, lower at 13,658 while the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, was down 0.55 percent at 3,229.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei was at 52,787 at one point before noon as it went into negative territory after the benchmark had opened up 327 points, or 0.61 percent, at 54,066.

In Seoul, the Kospi too lost ground to hit 5,288 at one point after 11am local time from opening up almost 73 points, or 1.33 percent, at 5,551.

The losses came as ⁠Trump, in his prime-time speech, said the ⁠United States would strike Iran "extremely hard" ⁠over the next two to three weeks and hit the country into the "Stone Ages".

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slid 0.75 percent.

Analysts and ⁠investors were focusing on when and how the Strait of Hormuz, a major fuel shipment route, would reopen and ease the bottleneck in supply that has hit Asian economies hard.

Iran has fired repeatedly on Gulf countries, some of them home to US bases, and is using the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural ⁠gas, as leverage.

Higher energy prices in March stoked fears of global inflation with worries about slowing growth also sapping sentiment.

The US dollar has been the haven of choice among investors during the tumult and the greenback rose against most currencies after the speech. (Reuters/Xinhua)


Edited by Tony Sabine