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Asian stocks fall as Iran sanctions worries lift bond yields
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed down 0.7%, while the 10-year US Treasury yield later climbed back to 4.73% after buyback plans failed to hold it down.
Major Asian markets closed lower on Aug. 24 as investors stayed cautious about a new round of US economic sanctions targeting Iran, and as they tracked rising government bond yields worldwide, LiveMint Markets reported.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.7% to 65,528.09, while South Korea’s Kospi dropped 3.1% to 6,696.96. The weakness also spread to Hong Kong, with the Hang Seng down 1.9% to 25,517.33, and the Shanghai Composite slipping 0.6% to 3,882.01.
The slide reflected risk-off sentiment tied to Washington’s plan for sweeping sanctions and the ongoing standoff between the US and Iran, alongside attention on the annual gathering of top US economic officials at Jackson Hole.
On top of geopolitics, investors were pressured by higher bond yields, with long-dated US yields touching multi-decade highs and yields in Japan, France, and Germany reaching multi-year highs. After the US signaled it would double purchases of longer term Treasuries to help bring down the 10-year yield, that benchmark later climbed back to 4.73% on Friday, according to the report.
Latest closeNikkei 225 68,308.59 ▲1.2%|Hang Seng 25,396.51 ▼0.2%|Kospi 6,813.34 ▲3.6%