Breaking! Iran missile hits U.S. military base! South Korean stock market plunges and hits the circuit breaker!

Middle East tensions continue to stir the global markets!

This morning, South Korean and Japanese stock markets opened lower and declined further, with the KOSPI index plunging over 6% intraday; KOSPI 200 futures fell 5%, triggering a 5-minute pause in algorithmic trading. The Nikkei 225 index dropped below 55,000 points, down more than 3% for the day. Among them, Japanese bank stocks fell sharply, with the banking index dropping 8%.

Market analysts point out that the heightened tensions in the Middle East have raised concerns about rising energy costs, fueling a global risk-off sentiment, which is the main reason for the decline in South Korean and Japanese stocks.

Just now, new developments emerged from the Middle East. According to CCTV News, on the early morning of March 4, Qatar’s Ministry of Defense announced that a ballistic missile launched by Iran hit the U.S. military Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

Additionally, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran issued Statement No. 19 of Operation “Real Commitment-4” early on the 4th, claiming to have attacked U.S. Navy destroyers and supply ships located in the Indian Ocean. The day before, the IRGC had claimed to have hit two U.S. missile defense targets with “THAAD” systems.

Korean Stock Market Plunges, Futures Trigger Circuit Breaker

On Wednesday, the Korean stock market continued its sharp decline, with the KOSPI index once falling over 6%, down more than 10% from its February 26 high. During trading, KOSPI 200 futures dropped 5%, with a 5-minute pause in trading due to algorithmic trading halts. The biggest drag on the KOSPI was Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, both of which fell over 6% intraday.

As of 8:58 AM Beijing time on March 4, the KOSPI index narrowed its decline to 4%, with Samsung Electronics down nearly 4%, SK Hynix down nearly 3%, and Hanmi Semiconductor down nearly 2%.

The previous day, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix shares had already plunged 9.88% and 11.5%, respectively. That day, the KOSPI index tumbled over 7%, marking its worst single-day performance since August 2024. This sharp decline occurred after the index had been performing strongly at high levels. As the best-performing stock index globally in 2026, the KOSPI had gained up to 50% year-to-date before the recent pullback, which has now narrowed the gain to 37%.

Currently, global risk aversion is rising, and tensions in the Middle East have sparked fears of rising energy costs. If the conflict in the Middle East becomes prolonged, it will pose a significant challenge to Korea’s stock market, which has been leading the global rally this round. Previously, driven by the AI boom, global demand for memory chips surged, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix contributing most of the index’s gains. The recent two-day crash has wiped out about $170 billion in combined market value for these two companies, causing panic among investors who had chased the rally and bet on continued growth.

Jung In Yun, CEO of Fibonacci Asset Management, said, “If the Iran conflict persists, oil prices could stay high, increasing inflation risks and complicating the Federal Reserve’s rate cut path. This macro environment is suppressing AI-related stocks, which are highly valued and increasingly sensitive to changes in interest rates and liquidity expectations.”

In commodities markets, gold and silver prices have been highly volatile over the past two days. On Tuesday, precious metals prices plunged sharply. Spot gold once dropped over 6%, briefly falling below $5,000 per ounce; spot silver fell over 12%, briefly dropping below $78 per ounce. By the close, spot gold was down over 4% at $5,088.65 per ounce, and spot silver fell over 8% to $82 per ounce.

Market analysts note that despite escalating Middle East conflicts, the strengthening dollar and rising bond yields offset gold’s appeal as a safe haven. On Tuesday, the dollar index, which measures the dollar against a basket of currencies, surged over 1%, approaching a three-month high, closing with a gain of 0.52%.

This morning, gold and silver prices saw slight rebounds.

Iranian Missiles Hit U.S. Military Bases

According to CCTV News, on the early morning of March 4, Qatar’s Ministry of Defense announced that Iran launched a ballistic missile that struck the U.S. military Udeid Air Base in Qatar, causing no casualties. Another missile was intercepted by Qatari air defenses.

The U.S. Udeid Air Base, located about 35 km southwest of Doha, Qatar, approximately 200 km from Iran’s border, hosts about 10,000 U.S. troops and is one of the largest U.S. military bases in the Gulf region.

Early on the 4th, Iran’s IRGC issued Statement No. 19 of Operation “Real Commitment-4,” claiming to have launched a powerful missile attack on strategic U.S. targets in the Indian Ocean.

The statement said the targets were a U.S. destroyer and supply ship 650 km off the Iranian coast, both of which caught fire after being hit.

Earlier that day, the IRGC had issued Statement No. 18 of Operation “Real Commitment-4,” stating that the Revolutionary Guard’s ground forces launched a total of 230 attack drones in three synchronized operations targeting the U.S. and Israel.

The statement added that these actions included dozens of drones launched at U.S. military bases in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as at Ali Al Salem and Al Udeid bases in Kuwait.

The day before, on March 3, an IRGC spokesperson announced that missile forces had successfully struck two targets.

The spokesperson said the IRGC’s missile attack hit the U.S. THAAD missile defense system in the Middle East, which has been removed from combat duty. Additionally, the radar of the THAAD system at the Ruweis military base in the UAE was destroyed a day earlier.

According to Iran’s reports on March 3, IRGC Navy Deputy Commander Mohammad Akbari Zadeh stated that the Strait of Hormuz is now fully under Iranian naval control, with more than a dozen oil tankers hit by gunfire in the strait.

Akbari Zadeh said the IRGC Navy has repeatedly warned that the Strait of Hormuz is in a state of war, and any ships passing through could be hit by gunfire or drones. Despite warnings, more than ten oil tankers have ignored these threats and been hit and burned.

He emphasized that after Iran declared a ban on navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, oil tankers, merchant ships, and fishing boats can no longer pass through the strait.

(Article source: Securities Times)