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Asian stocks fell in Monday's trading after the United States launched airstrikes against Iranian targets and Iran retaliated by bombing targets in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Jordan.

The price of Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 3.9% to $78.96 per barrel, while the price of West Texas Intermediate crude, the US oil benchmark, rose 4% to $74.26 per barrel.

The two crude prices had fallen and returned to levels before the US-Israeli war against Iran broke out on February 28 last year, following the signing of a temporary ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran, then rose again about two weeks ago after renewed mutual shelling between the two countries due to a dispute over ship passage mechanisms in the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.

US stocks fell in futures trading today, with the S&P 500 index down 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1%.

In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 1.1% to 67,786.86 points. South Korea's KOSPI index fell 5.6% to 7,060.69 points.

Shares of South Korean memory chip maker "SK Hynix" fell 10.6% on the Seoul exchange today after rising 13% on its first day of trading on Wall Street last Friday. Shares of electronics giant Samsung Electronics also fell 6.7% today.

On the Hong Kong exchange, the Hang Seng index rose 0.1% to 24,202.41 points, while the Shanghai Composite index fell 1.2% to 3,947.34 points.

Australia's "S&P/ASX 200" index fell 0.3% to 8,777 points.

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