SYDNEY: Asian shares tracked Wall Street lower on Thursday as uncertainty over the U.S. election outcome kept investors on edge, while the dollar stood tall near its three-month high, supported by elevated Treasury yields.
Nasdaq futures rose 0.5% after Tesla shares jumped 12% in after-hours trading after the EV maker reported robust third-quarter profits and surprised analysts with a prediction for 20-30% growth in sales next year.
European markets are set for a higher open ahead of a raft of Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) readings that will provide a gauge of the growth momentum in Europe. EUROSTOXX 50 futures gained 0.2% while FTSE futures rose 0.5%.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei rose 0.1% but MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.6%, pressured by falls in Chinese shares.
Both Hong Kong's Hang Seng index and China's blue chips dropped 1.2%.
Overnight on Wall Street, shares fell for the third straight day with major losses in the so-called Magnificent Seven tech stocks ahead of their earnings results. Nvidia, for example, fell almost 3%.
A spate of strong U.S. data and less dovish communication from Federal Reserve officials have lessened the odds of aggressive rate cuts in the months to come. Adding to market nerves is rising expectations of a possible return of Donald Trump to the White House.
U.S. bond yields kept pushing higher overnight, with the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield hitting a three month top of 4.26%. The sell-off in Treasuries steadied a little on Thursday, with ten-year yields down 3 basis points to 4.2157%.
"This sell-off in both equities and bonds is obviously not merely rotation, but risk re-pricing," said analysts at Mizuho.
"Crucially, the evidence suggests that it is rising yields that are driving, rather than being passively driven by, liquidation."
Tiffany Wilding, PIMCO economist, cautioned against reading too much into the recent rise in bond yields, saying that historical patterns suggest the change in 10-year yields a month after the Fed's first rat cut has not provided a consistent signal about the magnitude of further cuts.
All the same, strong economic data have led traders to question whether the Fed can afford to be cutting rates too deeply at each of its two remaining meetings this year. Swaps imply just 40 basis points of easing this year.
The higher yields have kept the dollar well supported near its three-month high. It surged 1.1% against the yen overnight, rising above the key 153 level, but was last down 0.3% at 152.26.
The yen weakened across the board after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda said it was still taking time to achieve the central bank's inflation goal.
The rise in the dollar reined in a stellar run in gold prices, which fell more than 1% overnight from their record of $2,758.37 an ounce. However, they climbed 0.4% on Thursday to $2,729.16.
Oil, which had fallen on a large build in U.S. crude stocks, recouped some of the losses, with Brent futures up 1.1% at $75.76 a barrel. - Reuters
