Asian stocks fall, gold at over 2-month high as Middle East tension weighs
By Ankur Banerjee
SINGAPORE (Reuters) — Asian shares slid on Thursday as risk aversion prevailed in the market due to mounting worries over Middle East tensions, while gold prices stayed near two-month peaks with investors seeking safer assets.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 1.11% lower and on course for a 1.4% decline in the week. Japan's Nikkei sank 1.35%.
The broad sell-off in U.S. Treasuries continued into Asian hours with the yield on 10-year notes touching a fresh 16-year high as investors come to grips with the Federal Reserve's messaging that interest rates may stay higher for longer. Yields rise when bond prices fall.
Anderson Alves, a trader with ActivTrades, said Asian equity markets were cautious, «spurred by traders adjusting their expectations for a lesser likelihood of a rate cut, increasing long-term yields, and mounting geopolitical uncertainties.»
U.S. President Joe Biden pledged to help Israel and the Palestinians during a lightning visit on Wednesday, but a deadly hospital blast that he ascribed to an errant rocket fired by Gaza militants derailed talks to prevent the war spreading.
Investor concerns of geopolitical risks after a widening U.S. chip export ban has cast a shadow over Chinese stocks despite some good news from a flurry of data on Wednesday that underscored an economy that was showing signs of stabilising.
But worries over China's property sector have kept investors jittery.
Country Garden on Wednesday was due to pay a $15 million coupon payment on a bond due September 2025, but two bondholders of China's biggest private property developer told Reuters they were yet to receive it. Non-payment would put the developer at risk of default.
«Such uncertainties
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