Asian shares decline as oil prices soar amid the war in Iran, echoing last week's Wall Street drop

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly dipped in Monday morning trading as worries continued about soaring oil prices and the potential for further escalation in the U.S. war with Iran.

The drops in Asia follow the deep declines on Wall Street last Friday that finished off a fifth straight losing week, its longest such streak in nearly four years.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 4.5% in morning trading to 50,979.54. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.2% to 8,417.00. South Korea's Kospi dove 3.2% to 5,264.32. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1.7% to 24,519.63, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.7% to 3,884.57.

Worries have been great in Japan and the rest of Asia about the effective lack of access to the Strait of Hormuz because of the war in Iran, as the region relies greatly on such access for oil shipments.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude jumped $2.28 to $101.92 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, soared $2.88 to $115.45 a barrel. Before the war, Brent had been priced at about $70 to a barrel.

Investors are now bracing for the war to last for some time, which would likely set off inflation in global markets, and eventually may stunt Asia's economic growth.

“Although we do not expect the conflict to be protracted, we anticipate heightened volatility in the near term,” said Xavier Lee, senior equity analyst at Morningstar Research.

Oil prices are again climbing after momentarily easing when President Donald Trump extended a self-imposed deadline to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants to April 6.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell 1.7% to close its worst week since the war with Iran began. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 793 points, or 1.7%, and fell more than 10% from its record set last month, while the Nasdaq composite sank 2.1%.

The S&P 500 is 8.7% below its all-time high set in January. Big Tech stocks were among the heaviest weights on the market, including Amazon and Nvidia.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 108.31 points to 6,368.85 last Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 793.47 to 45,166.64, and the Nasdaq composite sank 459.72 to 20,948.36.

In the bond market, the yield for the 10-year Treasury rose as high as 4.48% before pulling back to end last week at 4.43%. That’s up from 4.42% late Thursday and from just 3.97% before the war began.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar inched down to 159.97 Japanese yen from 160.32 yen. The euro cost $1.1505, down from $1.1510.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

Workers walk in an area at a degassing station in Zubair oil field, whose operations have being reduced due to the Mideast war triggered by the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, near Basra, Iraq, Saturday, March 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A person walks by an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index in Tokyo Monday, March 30, 2026. (Yusuke Hashizume/Kyodo News via AP)

A dealer walks near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won and the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Dealers work near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Dealers work near the screens showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), right, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

SEATTLE (AP) — By the time Emerson Hancock’s first start of the 2025 season ended, he had recorded just two outs.

Once Hancock’s inaugural outing of 2026 concluded, though, a few very different figures lit up the scoreboard at T-Mobile Park.

Six innings.

No runs.

And most impressive — no hits.

Not only did the Seattle Mariners starter pick up his first win of the season Sunday in the team’s 8-0 victory over the Cleveland Guardians, Hancock also proved to himself in a very concrete way that he has made sizable steps forward since the spring of 2025.

After all, Hancock won a spot in the Mariners’ rotation in large part because of a spring training injury to Bryce Miller.

“A year ago, right now, we’re having a completely different conversation. Things went completely different,” Hancock said with a laugh. “But, I think that’s just part of this game. And you’re going to struggle, there’s going to be ups, there’s going to be downs.”

There were no “downs” to speak of Sunday, at least not according to the 30,800 fans on hand who rewarded the sixth overall pick in the 2020 amateur draft with a standing ovation after he worked a 1-2-3 sixth inning.

In the process, Hancock joined Félix Hernández as the only Mariners pitchers to strike out nine or more in a hitless outing of at least six innings. Hernández did so when throwing a perfect game in 2012.

Hancock’s nine strikeouts were a career high, a figure buoyed in large part by a four-seam fastball that generated nine swings-and-misses. Paired with a sweeper that Hancock spent a lot of time refining in the offseason, Hancock’s fastball kept Cleveland’s hitters off balance all evening.

“You’re playing the speed game and the break game,” Hancock said. “It’s something slower, it’s something that is breaking a lot through the zone. And if you can throw it in the zone, it can help a ton. And then the heater for me, I’m just trying to see it as the mask and just kind of rip it.”

Hancock effortlessly maneuvered through Cleveland’s lineup. The only baserunners the 26-year-old right-hander allowed came when he walked José Ramírez in the first inning and hit CJ Kayfus with a fastball in the sixth.

But after six innings and 97 pitches, manager Dan Wilson decided Hancock was done, and there was no consideration to seeing if he could produce the seventh no-hitter in Mariners history.

“What he did today was really good execution,” Wilson said. “Really hard to take a guy out after no hits, six innings. But, pitch count was where it was.”

Guardians rookie Chase DeLauter lined a clean single leading off the seventh against reliever Cooper Criswell to break up Seattle’s bid for a combined no-hitter.

Across the board, Hancock’s velocity was down relative to last season, too. He and Wilson chalked that up in part to it being early in the season. It didn’t help that the temperature hung in the low 40s all game on a chilly late afternoon in the Pacific Northwest

As much as the elements may have shortened Hancock’s start, though, they only added to its brilliance. From the outset, third baseman Brendan Donovan was impressed with Hancock’s willingness to attack hitters, evidenced by the right-hander throwing first-pitch strikes to 12 of the 19 batters he faced, as well as not allowing a batted ball against him to leave the infield.

“I feel like he had confidence in everything that was coming out of his hand,” Donovan said. “Mixing speeds, locations, high levels. Kind of in and out, down, everything seemed to be working for him.”

Such an assessment could not be applied to Hancock’s first start of the 2025 season, one he ultimately finished coming out of the bullpen as Seattle’s starting rotation got healthier. But if Hancock can spin the ball the way he did Sunday more frequently, Wilson will have tougher decisions to make beyond whether he should keep the righty in the game.

“What an incredible performance by Emerson Hancock,” Wilson said. "It was impressive.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Emerson Hancock walks back to the dugout after facing the Cleveland Guardians during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Emerson Hancock throws against the Cleveland Guardians during the first inning of a baseball game, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Emerson Hancock throws against the Cleveland Guardians during the third inning of a baseball game, Sunday, March 29, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)