[MARKET ANALYSIS] Asia-Pac stocks declined following last Friday's US tech sell-off and post-NFP rate hike bets, while oil rallies on geopolitical escalation

APAC Stocks: Negative

• Asia-Pac stocks are negative following the recent geopolitical escalation in the Middle East and last Friday's tech losses on Wall St, as money markets priced in a Fed rate hike this year following strong jobs data, while Australian participants have been spared from the selling for today due to the holiday closure.

Nikkei 225: -3.6%

• Slumped at the open and briefly fell beneath the 64,000 level with intraday losses of over 3,000 points, amid higher oil prices and a downward revision to annualised GDP for Q1.

KOSPI - 4.6%

• Underperforms with the index triggering a circuit breaker early in the session after slumping over 8% as the sector was spooked after last Friday's selling stateside, although the index is off today's lows following efforts by NVIDIA's CEO Huang to talk up the sector and with announcements regarding cooperation with South Korean tech firms.

Hang Seng & Shanghai Comp: Hang Seng -1.2% / Shanghai Comp -1.3%

• Chinese markets are also on the backfoot with weakness seen in tech and mining names.

US Equity Futures: Mixed

• Attempts to nurse some losses following last Friday's tech-driven sell-off.

European Equity Futures -0.8%

• Indicate a lower cash market open with Euro Stoxx 50 futures down 0.8% after the cash market closed with losses of 0.7% on Friday.