Business and finance news from the Asia-Pacific.
Asian stocks dropped, tracking losses on Wall Street, as surging oil prices stoked concern that inflation will accelerate. Brent crude held above $101 a barrel. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slipped 1.3%, with benchmark gauges in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia all declining. The S&P 500 Index slid 0.5% on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq 100 Index dropped 0.3%, weighed down by losses in Nvidia Corp., Amazon.com Inc. and Alphabet Inc. Brent climbed as high as $101.94 before paring its gains, as Iran vowed it was prepared for a more intense war after hostilities flared across the Middle East. At the same time, the Treasury 10-year yield held near Wednesday's high of 4.85%, a level last seen in late 2023, after the US government's plan to buy up to $6 billion of longer-dated debt disappointed investors who had expected a larger increase. We speak to Lianting Tu, Bloomberg's Managing Editor for Asia Equities.
For more analysis on the markets, Bloomberg's Avril Hong spoke to Eastspring Investments Portfolio Manager Christina Woon.
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