Laika AI
Last Updated
March 4, 2026

South Korea's Kospi and Kosdaq each plunged more than 10%, triggering automatic trading halts as the Middle East conflict drove a historic global exodus from risk assets.
South Korea's stock exchange was forced to suspend trading on Wednesday after escalating conflict in the Middle East sparked one of the sharpest single-session selloffs the country has seen since August 2024.
Both the Kospi and Kosdaq indexes fell more than 10% during morning trading in Seoul, automatically triggering circuit breakers' emergency mechanisms designed to pause trading when markets move too fast for orderly price discovery.
The rout wasn't isolated to South Korea. Japan's Nikkei and Topix fell nearly 4%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 3%, and China's Shanghai Composite shed 1.3%, according to Google Finance. Thailand's stock exchange, another major Middle East oil importer, slid 7.8% on the day.
Oil dependency drives the panic
Analysts were quick to point out South Korea's acute vulnerability to Middle East instability. "South Korea imports 94% of its oil, with 75% coming from the Middle East," noted Bianco Research CEO Jim Bianco. "So it is easy to see why its investors are panicking."
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The catalyst for the selloff is Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical artery for global oil shipments, following threats to target cargo ships. Since airstrikes began on Feb. 28, Brent crude has surged 14% to $82 per barrel, and WTI crude has jumped 12% to $75 per barrel.
Trump: Wars can be "fought forever"
The Trump administration confirmed the US is intensifying attacks on Iran, reportedly targeting a high-level leadership meeting. President Trump posted on Truth Social that the US holds a "virtually unlimited supply" of weapons, and pledged that the Navy would escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz "as soon as possible."
Crypto resilient — for now
Crypto markets, which have already lost 21% year-to-date, showed surprising short-term resilience. Total market capitalization declined just 0.5% on the day to $2.39 trillion, per CoinGecko, a notable divergence from equity market turmoil.
Crypto researcher SungHoon Lee called the situation a black swan event, warning that $3.2 trillion in global stock market value had been wiped out in just four days, which he described as "the worst geopolitical shock since 1973."