Asian shares slide on Fed rate cut rethink; China GDP in focus
Federal Reserve is unlikely to be in a rush to cut interest rates this year.
Rising geopolitical tensions kept risk sentiment in check, lifting prices of gold and oil, while investor focus in Asia turns to China with GDP data due at 0200 GMT.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.4% to nearly seven-week lows of 521.92, with Japan's Nikkei down 1.6%.
U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Monday as a jump in Treasury yields weighed on sentiment amid concerns about rising tensions between Iran and Israel. [.N]
Israelis awaited word on how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would respond to Iran's first-ever direct attack on their country. Netanyahu on Monday summoned his war cabinet for the second time in less than 24 hours to weigh a response to Iran's weekend missile and drone attack, a government source said.
«The markets have come alive with the sound of derisking, deleveraging, hedging and broad managing of risk exposures,» said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.
«There is certainly not much in the news flow to inspire risk-taking and there is a growing list of factors to refrain from buying and to manage exposures.»
U.S. retail sales rose 0.7% last month, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Monday, while economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales, which are mostly goods and are not adjusted for inflation, would rise 0.3%.
The stronger-than-expected data comes after a report last week underscored inflation remains stickier than markets had
