---
title: "Japanese Shares Fall on Middle East Conflict"
type: "News"
locale: "en"
url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/277379482.md"
description: "Japanese shares fell as the Nikkei 225 Index dropped 2% to around 57,500 due to escalating Middle East conflict, including military strikes by the US and Israel on Iran, which resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader. This raised concerns of a broader conflict and led to risk-off sentiment in financial markets. The decline also reflected losses on Wall Street, despite the Nikkei's strong performance in February, where it rose 10.4% amid global investor interest in Asian companies benefiting from AI infrastructure."
datetime: "2026-03-02T00:15:24.000Z"
locales:
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/277379482.md)
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/277379482.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/277379482.md)
---

# Japanese Shares Fall on Middle East Conflict

The Nikkei 225 Index dropped 2% to around 57,500 on Monday, giving back gains from last week as the escalating war in the Middle East fueled risk-off sentiment across financial markets.

The US and Israel carried out military strikes on Iran over the weekend that resulted in the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran retaliated by targeting US assets across the region, raising concerns of a broader conflict.

Japanese shares also mirrored losses on Wall Street from Friday as investors weighed whether rapid AI adoption could displace traditional software providers.

Still, local equities had been among February’s top performers, with the Nikkei rising 10.4% last month amid global investor rotation into Asian companies positioned to benefit from expanding AI infrastructure.

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