Asia markets set to open lower, tracking Wall Street losses, as Iran conflict sends oil prices soaring

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Smoke rises from an Israeli strike targeting the southern suburbs on March 5, 2026 in Beirut, Lebanon.

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Asia-Pacific markets were set to open lower Friday, tracking Wall Street losses overnight, as the Iran conflict sends energy prices higher.

Overnight, oil prices broke through the $80 per barrel mark, with Brent futures up 3.54% and last trading at $84.31. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 2% to trade at $79.38.

More uncertainty was also seen on the global trade front after New York Attorney General Letitia James and the top prosecutors of 23 other statesonce again sued to block President Donald Trump’s global tariff regime.

This comes after the U.S. Court of International Trade had ruled Thursday that companies were entitled to tariff refunds from Trump’s duties that were struck down by the Supreme Court.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 1.15% in early trade, dragged by basic materials stocks.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 futures pointed to a weaker open for the market, with the futures contract in Chicago at 54,540 and its counterpart in Osaka at 54,620 compared to the previous close of 55,278.06. 33

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index futures were at 25,037, lower than the HSI’s last close of 25,321.34.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes fell, with the stock sell-off led by Boeing, Caterpillar and other names that stand to lose the most if the global economy slows.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 1.61%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.56%. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.26%.

—CNBC’s Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.

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