Asian Stocks Fall As Wall Street Extends Losses, Treasury Yields Face Heat

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region traded lower during Thursday's opening following a fall in Wall Street as traders trimmed rate-cut bets by the US Federal Reserve.

Australia's S&P ASX 200 was 18 points, or 0.22%, lower at 8,198, while the Japanese Nikkei 225 was down 292 points, or 0.76%, at 37,781 as of 5:50 a.m. Futures contracts pointed at a negative start for stocks in Hong Kong and China.

China's stocks extended their gains after banks in the nation slashed key policy rates to revive the economy, a sign that the bulls' rally has not died yet.

Japanese stocks are expected to move cautiously ahead of the country's general election on the weekend. According to Bloomberg News, support for Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is steadily dwindling, which may impact investor sentiment.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the Japanese yen fell to its weakest level against the dollar in almost three months, reinforcing bets that the central bank will intervene to support the currency.

Elsewhere, stocks in the US extended their losses while bond yields rose as traders cut down the magnitude of rate cu by the Fed. Swap traders are less than 100% certain of rate cuts over the two remaining policy meetings this year, Bloomberg News reported.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury yield saw another session of advance to 4.24%, posting a similar rise seen during 1995, when the erstwhile Fed Chair Alan Greenspan started cutting interest rates to engineer a soft landing.

While the broader market ended negative on Wall Street, big technology companies climbed in late hours as Elon Musk's Tesla jumped 9% on strong earnings.

On the commodity front, crude oil prices edged higher on Thursday amid cease-fire talks in Gaza and Lebanon led by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.  

Brent crude was trading 0.53% higher at $75.36 a barrel as of 6:07 a.m. IST. West Texas Intermediate was up 0.58% at $71.18.