Asia-Pacific markets fell on Wednesday as investors weighed elevated bond yields and renewed geopolitical tensions, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement on Tuesday that he was “an hour away” from deciding to attack Iran, before he was persuaded to postpone the strike for a few days.
Yields on U.S. Treasurys briefly hit 5.197% during the earlier session, marking their highest level since July 2007, as investors continued to dump bonds on fears inflation is reigniting. The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield was last trading almost 1 basis point lower at 5.173%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index dumped another 746.18 points, or 1.2%, to 59,804.41.
Yields on U.S. Treasurys briefly hit 5.197% during the earlier session, marking their highest level since July 2007, as investors continued to dump bonds on fears inflation is reigniting. The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield was last trading almost 1 basis point lower at 5.173%.
Japan’s super-long government bond yields eased slightly on Wednesday, with the 30-year JGB yield falling over nine basis points to 4.068% after hitting record highs on Monday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index shed 146.73 points, or 0.6%, to 25,651.12.
In Korea, shares of Samsung Electronics edged 0.18% higher even as wage talks between the company and the workers broke down, with more than 47,000 employees now set to go on strike Thursday.
In other markets;
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 index lost 2.18 points to 4,850.70.
In Taiwan, the Taiex tumbled 154.74 points, or 0.4%, to 40,020.82
In Korea, the Kospi waned 62.71 points, or 0.9%, to 7,208.95.
In Singapore, the Straits Times 50 index doffed 27.43 points, or 0.5%, to 5,044.91.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 scaled back 213.29 points, or 1.6%, to 12,761.03.
In Australia, the AZX 200 retreated 108.12 points, or 1.3%, to 8,496.58.
