Asian shares decline after stocks slip on Wall Street, while global bond sell-off intensifies

HONG KONG:  Asian shares tumbled Wednesday after stocks slipped on Wall Street and as a bond market sell-off deepened globally.

US futures also declined.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 dropped 3% to 64,278.95. SoftBank Group, the Japanese multinational investment holding firm which invests in OpenAI, fell 6.3%.

South Korea's Kospi lost 3.6% to 6,588.95. Samsung Electronics declined 3.3%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix fell 3.5%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.8% to 25,126.40, and the Shanghai Composite index dipped 0.9% to 3,943.22.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.1% to 8,971.90.

Taiwan's Taiex dropped 1.5%.

On Tuesday, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 slipped 0.7%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.8%, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 1%. The US on Tuesday reported job openings grew slightly in July.

Among some of the biggest decliners, Nvidia dropped 1.5%, Amazon gave up 1.9% and Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, fell 2.4%.

Oil prices advanced after the US launched another round of military strikes on Iran and Iran responded by firing missiles and drones across the region.

Since the Iran war passed its six-month mark, escalating tensions between the US and Iran have worsened worries over energy supplies. The Strait of Hormuz, an important waterway for oil transport, remains largely closed.

Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at $95.56 per barrel, up 1%. It was trading at around $72 a barrel before the start of the war in late February.

Benchmark US crude was 0.7% higher at $90.88 a barrel.

Elevated inflation and growing US government debt are helping drive bond yields higher as investors demand increased returns due to increased risks. Bond prices fall when bond yields rise, in an inverse relationship.

The yield of the 10-year US Treasury rose to around 4.80% from 4.75% on Monday. It was as low as 4.20% in January.

The 2-year Treasury yield, which tracks Federal Reserve interest rate moves more closely, was at about 4.40%, up from 4.34% on Monday. That's compared to roughly 3.50% back in early 2026.

Japan's 10-year government bond yield was at around 3.02% early Wednesday, its highest since 1996, up from around 2.94% on Monday.

The US dollar rose to 160.27 Japanese yen from 160.17 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1578, down from $1.1593.