South Korea's stock market started the new week with a sharp decline, with the benchmark KOSPI index losing nearly 8 percent of its value at one point, causing trading to be suspended. Tech heavyweights Samsung Electronics and chipmaker SK Hynix saw double-digit declines, with SK Hynix's stock price down more than 13 percent on Monday after raising $26.5 billion in an IPO on the U.S. Nasdaq on Friday. The declines are linked to recent U.S. attacks on Iran, rising oil prices, and profit-taking; a barrel of Brent crude for September delivery is trading at $79.50, an increase of about 4.5 percent. Japan's Nikkei 225 fell by about 1.9 percent, China's CSI 300 fell by 1.4 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose slightly by 0.2 percent. The KOSPI, which had become a symbol of the AI rally with record highs through mid-June, has since lost a little more than a quarter of its value but is still up more than 60 percent so far this year.