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Asian stocks slide as Wall St tips into bear market
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A Wall Street sign is seen outside of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on June 08, 2022 in New York City, US. (Getty Images/AFP/Michael M. Santiago)
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sian shares tumbled on Tuesday after Wall Street hit a confirmed bear market milestone and bond yields struck a two-decade high on fears aggressive US interest rate hikes would push the world's largest economy into recession.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.9 percent.
Australian shares sank 5 percent in early trade, while Japan's Nikkei stock index was down 1.74 percent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index slipped 1.44 percent and China's CSI300 Index was down nearly 1 percent at the open.
The negative tone in Asia follows a bleak session in the US on Monday, which saw Goldman Sachs forecast a 75-basis-point interest rate hike at the Federal Reserve's next policy meeting on Wednesday.
"The US will see rate rises faster and higher than Wall Street has been expecting," James Rosenberg, Ord Minnett advisor in Sydney told Reuters. "There will likely be the double impact of earnings forecasts being trimmed and further price to earnings derating."
Expectations for aggressive US rate hikes rose after inflation in the year to May shot up by a sharper than predicted 8.6 percent.
Fears of higher rates leading to a US recession kicked the S&P 500 down 3.88 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 4.68 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.8 percent.
The benchmark S&P 500 is now down more than 20 percent from its most recent record closing high, confirming a bear market, according to a commonly used definition.
In US trading, benchmark 10-year Treasury yields hit their highest since 2011 on Monday and a key part of the yield curve inverted for the first time since April as investors braced for the prospect that attempts to stem soaring inflation would dent the economy.
Early in Asia, the yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes rose to 3.3828 percent compared with its US close of 3.371 percent on Monday.
The two-year yield, which rises with traders' expectations of higher Fed fund rates, touched 3.4002 percent compared with a US close of 3.281 percent.
"Higher inflation, slower growth and higher interest rates are a damaging combination for financial assets," ANZ strategists wrote on Tuesday.
The dollar dropped 0.06 percent against the yen to 134.32 but remains close to its more-than-two-decade high of 135.17 reached on Monday.
The European single currency was flat at $1.0407, having lost 3.04 percent in a month, while the dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of major currencies, was up at 105.19.
Bitcoin BTC fell around 4.5 percent on Tuesday to $21,416, a fresh 18 month low, extending Monday's 15 percent fall as markets were jolted by crypto lender Celsius suspending withdrawals.
US crude dipped 0.06 percent to $122.14 a barrel. Brent crude was down 0.13 percent 122.14 per barrel.
