The latest intermediate range ballistic missile that flew through the airspace of Japan has rattled both global markets and geopolitics. The missile, launched early on Tuesday Korean time, flew over Hokkaido Island before crashing into the sea. The South Korean military said the missile was fired eastward just before 06:00 local time (21:00 GMT) from near the North's capital, Pyongyang and early analysis of the launch suggests that the missile flew a distance of more than 2,700km (1,678 miles) and was likely a Hwasong-12, a newly developed intermediate range weapon. It reached a maximum altitude of about 550km (342 miles) and fell into the North Pacific Ocean 1,180km off the Japanese coast after breaking into three pieces. Reports from Japanese media suggests that no effort was made by the Japanese to shoot down the missile but it issued a safety warning telling citizens in Hokkaido to take shelter in "a sturdy building or basement".

Though the missile caused no harm or posed any danger to the United States or its overseas territory of Guam, the financial markets suffered big sell off as the tensions escalate. North Korea has so far fired four missiles since the United States and South Korea began 10-day military drills in the Korean Peninsula. The firing came just days after the U.S. secretary of state Rex Tillerson praised North Korea for showing restraint by not test-firing any missiles since the United Nation’s Security Council (UNSC) unanimously approved fresh sanctions aimed at reducing North Korea’s exports revenues by almost a third.

In response to the launch, the global stock market tumbled, while demand for safe haven assets moved up. South Korea’s benchmark stock index KOSPI 200 is down 0.8, while Nikkei 225 is down 0.6 percent. Safe haven currency yen rose to as high as 108.3 per dollar; currently trading at 108.8 and yellow metal gold traded as high as $1326 per troy ounce, the highest level since last November.