Japan, South Korea shares fall as Asian stocks drop on inflation fears, oil gains
Published Thu, Oct 8, 2026 · 10:03 AM
ASIAN stocks declined, tracking moves on Wall Street, as elevated oil prices stoked inflation concerns and technology shares came under renewed pressure.
MSCI’s Asia Pacific index for equities slipped 0.3 per cent, with shares in Japan and South Korea falling, while markets in mainland China return from a holiday.
Among the main moves across markets, S&P 500 futures were little changed as at 9.03 am Tokyo time. Hang Seng futures fell 0.6 per cent, Japan’s Topix fell 0.9 per cent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.4 per cent.
Shares of Samsung Electronics fluctuated between gains and losses after the chip bellwether reported record profit but still missed estimates.
Elsewhere, Brent rose 1 per cent to around US$101.20 a barrel after a report that the White House asked the Pentagon to draw up strike options against Iran that could be executed before the midterm elections, and as a storm shut some US output.
Earlier, the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq 100 Index both fell 0.2 per cent on renewed concerns about inflation. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index lost 1.2 per cent. A Bloomberg gauge of the US dollar’s strength touched its highest since June in the New York session.
Higher oil prices are complicating the outlook for investors by adding to inflationary pressures just as the US Federal Reserve in September increased interest rates for the first time since 2023.
Minutes from the Fed’s September meeting showed officials unanimously backed a rate hike, with many supporting the move as insurance against stronger price pressures.
“Another rate hike is probably coming this year because current policy isn’t very restrictive,” said David Russell at TradeStation. “With inflation above target and most measures of economic activity strong, price stability is the Fed’s dominant mandate.”
All 19 Fed officials backed September’s decision to raise the target range for the benchmark rate by a quarter point to 3.75 to 4 per cent, the first increase since July 2023. The move came as policymakers saw signs of renewed strength in the economy.
Officials also discussed financial conditions, with many noting that even after the rise in longer-term Treasury yields, conditions remained supportive of growth as equities rallied and corporate bond spreads stayed narrow.
In Asia, the yen was steady around 158 per US dollar. The Fed minutes showed that US participation in Japan’s late-July intervention to support the yen was carried out by the Treasury Department and did not involve the Fed’s own funds.
Traders were also watching France’s fiscal strains, which threaten to pull the European Central Bank into its sharpest confrontation with markets since the euro-area debt crisis. France’s finance ministry said it is not changing its bond-issuance strategy.
Attention is also shifting to the coming earnings season for signs that profit growth can justify elevated valuations as macro risks mount, and whether the artificial intelligence boom has further to run.
Expectations have been rising, with earnings per share for S&P 500 companies projected to increase more than 24 per cent in the coming reporting season, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. BLOOMBERG
