GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks fall for 4th day as higher yields bite, all eyes on Nvidia results
BY Reuters | TREASURY | 10:03 PM EDT* Treasury yields hit new highs overnight, steady in Asia
* Japan's Nikkei falls 1.6%, Wall St futures flat
* Oil prices still elevated, yen falls below 159 per dollar
By Stella Qiu
SYDNEY, May 20 (Reuters) - Asian stocks fell for a
fourth straight session on Wednesday as war-driven inflation
fears hammered bonds, while investors awaited earnings from
Nvidia
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7% on Wednesday, while Japan's Nikkei dropped 1.6%. South Korea's KOSPI was down 2%. Chinese blue-chips slipped 0.4%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index eased 0.7%.
Europe's pan-region stock futures fell 0.5%. Nasdaq futures were flat while the S&P 500 futures slipped 0.1%.
"At this point of time, it remains my base case that we are seeing a corrective pullback after an absolutely phenomenal rally," said Tony Sycamore, analyst at IG. "The US yields obviously are creating some rumbles in the market and now attracting a lot of attention.
"Nvidia
The chipmaking giant will announce first quarter earnings after the market close on Wednesday. Expectations, as always, are sky-high. Revenue is projected to increase by almost 80% to nearly $79 billion, according to the median forecast in an LSEG survey of analysts.
Treasuries nursed losses in Asia, with the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes holding steady at 4.6713%, having jumped 21 basis points in the past three sessions. The 30-year yield was flat at 5.1858% after a 17 bps jump from last Thursday.
The dollar stood near a six-week high against its major peers. It was steady at 159.05 yen, having gained for seven straight sessions that unwound most of the intervention-driven gains on April 30 when Japanese authorities stepped into the market to safeguard the yen at the 160 mark.
The euro last bought $1.1594, having touched its lowest level since April 8 overnight. The British pound was at $1.3380, not far from the six-week low it touched earlier this week.
Gold prices slipped 0.4% to $4,463 an ounce, the lowest since the end of March as the U.S. dollar gained.
(Reporting by Stella Qiu; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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