Japan and South Korea Stocks Open Higher. Nikkei 225 Jumps Nearly 3%, KOSPI Surges Over 5%

TradingKey - The easing of Middle East tensions boosted a significant rebound in Japanese and South Korean stock markets, though the crisis has not been fully resolved.

On March 10 (GMT+8), geopolitical conflicts eased, leading to a sharp rebound in Japanese and South Korean stock markets following an oversold period. The Nikkei 225 Index opened up 1,465.79 points, or 2.78%, at 54,194.51.

Nikkei 225 Index chart, source: Google

The South Korean stock market saw even stronger gains, with the KOSPI Index opening up 286.95 points, or 5.46%, reclaiming the key 5,500 level to trade at 5,536.91.

According to a CBS report on March 9, U.S. President Trump claimed that the war might end soon. Trump stated, "I think this war is basically over, pretty much."

In fact, U.S. stocks had already digested the news ahead of the Japanese and South Korean markets. During the trading session on March 9, the three major U.S. indices rose collectively, with the Nasdaq surging 1.38%, the S&P 500 jumping 0.83%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.5%.

It should be noted that this is currently only a unilateral announcement by the U.S. that the war might end, while Iran has not made any public statements or responses. Therefore, the situation is highly likely to continue deteriorating, especially given President Trump's threat that "if Iran does anything to stop the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the U.S. twenty times harder than they are right now."