Asian shares trade mixed and Kospi falls nearly 4% as oil prices keep swinging

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Tuesday as uncertainty about what will happen with the Iran war roiled global markets.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 0.6% in morning trading to 60,433.79, erasing initial gains after the government reported that the economy grew for the second straight quarter in January-March, mainly due to better than expected consumer spending.

South Korea’s Kospi sank more than 4% in early trading and was down 3.5% at 7,249.73 by midday. Shares in Samsung Electronics slipped 3.8% and SK Hynix fell 4%, tracking losses in tech shares overnight on Wall Street.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.9% to 8,582.80. Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 0.5% to 25,811.28, while the Shanghai Composite shed 0.3% to 4,121.11.

On Monday, the S&P 500 swiveled between gains and losses before finishing with a dip of 0.1% at 7,403.05, its second loss since setting an all-time high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3% to 49,686.12, and the Nasdaq composite fell 0.5% to 26,090.73.

In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost $1.36 to $103.02 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, dipped $1.99 to $110.11 a barrel.

Oil prices have been gyrating lately because of uncertainty over how long the Iran war will keep the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, preventing oil tankers from delivering crude. Japan, for instance, imports just about all its oil, much of it previously through the strait.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard was trading at about $70 before the war. It fell after President Donald Trump said in a social media post that he was holding off on a military strike on Iran planned for Tuesday because “serious negotiations” are underway to end the war.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose as high as 4.63% before falling back to 4.59%, where it was late Friday.

Delta Air Lines finished essentially flat after swinging up and down through the day because of oil prices. It got an early boost following news that Berkshire Hathaway had bought more than $2.6 billion of the airline’s stock. Berkshire Hathaway built a reputation as a value investor able to buy stocks at low prices under its former leader, Warren Buffett.

Investors are watching for Nvidia’s latest quarterly results, due Wednesday. The chip company has routinely blown past analysts’ expectations each quarter while forecasting more growth. Target, Home Depot and Walmart also report results this week.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 158.96 Japanese yen from 158.84 yen. The euro cost $1.1643, down from $1.1657.

AP Business Writer Stan Choe contributed to this report.

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

Specialist Michael Pistillo. Left, and trader Fred's Demarco work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Asia markets index of Japan, South Korea and Australia is seen on a screen at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A dealer walks near the screens showing the foreign exchange rates at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

A delivery person on a bicycle waits for a traffic light near an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, May 18, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Monday, May 18, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A dealer watches computer monitors at a dealing room of Hana Bank in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

One pilot stabbed another and attempted to crash a flight from the United Arab Emirates to Israel, according to Israel's prime minister.

Passengers, many of them Israelis, feared for their lives as the FlyDubai aircraft lost half its altitude in about a minute.

As Israel scrambled fighter jets out of concern for a possible hijacking, a passenger and crew member broke into the cockpit to subdue the attacker and other crew members gained control of the aircraft, which landed safely in Saudi Arabia.

It was not clear what motivated Wednesday's attack.

The terrifying flight occurred just days before the anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel that launched the war in Gaza. It has rekindled anxieties about airline security and focused attention on an unsettling question: Are pilots a significant threat to the flying public's safety?

Here’s what we know — and don’t know — about what happened on FlyDubai flight FZ1073:

The distress call came at 8:44 a.m. local time, about two and a half hours after the flight with about 170 passengers left Dubai and headed to Tel Aviv.

The captain and first officer had been fighting in the cockpit after one tried to stab the other and crash the aircraft, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The aircraft swiftly lost altitude — dropping from 33,000 feet to 17,000 feet (around 10,000 meters to 5,100 meters) in the span of about a minute. It then circled close to the Jordanian border before landing in Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, about an hour later.

Both pilots suffered injuries that required hospital treatment, according to a statement from Tabuk's Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Airport. Netanyahu said Saudi Arabia had arrested one of the pilots.

A plane carrying passengers from the flight landed Wednesday evening in Israel.

A passenger and a crew member managed to break into the cockpit, enabling other crew members to enter and fly the plane to a safe landing, according to Netanyahu, who cited a passenger he had spoken to.

The cockpit door on all aircraft is locked during flight for security reasons — a measure that became the industry standard after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, in which hijackers broke into the cockpits of four domestic flights in the United States.

It's unclear how the passenger and crew managed to get into the FlyDubai cockpit since aircraft doors are reinforced to withstand attempts to break them down.

One question surrounding this incident is how anyone on the aircraft — even a pilot — was able to get a knife onboard. It's unclear how big the knife was that was used in the attack.

Pilots undergo rigorous screening, including passing through metal detectors, at checkpoints at all airports. It's also standard for airlines to vet their pilots' background for criminal and employment history, their physical and mental health, as well as having them undergo intelligence and security screening.

Israel has some of the most stringent airline security measures worldwide. Passengers on Israel-bound flights regularly are taken aside for questioning and baggage searches after passing through normal airport security. It's uncertain whether the pilots of the FlyDubai flight had been screened as vigorously.

There have been extremely rare occasions when airline security protocols fail. In 2015, the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately set the plane on a collision course with a mountainside, killing all 150 people aboard.

Passengers embark on a FlyDubai aircraft at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Holding balloons people wait for the arrival of passengers at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A FlyDubai aircraft carrying Israelis who experienced an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia arrives at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)