Global stock markets, US futures sink after Treasury selloff eases

In Asian trading, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.2% to 3,508.50 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo declined 0.9% to 29,408.17. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed 1.2% to 29,095.86

Global stock markets and Wall Street futures declined on Tuesday after a selloff in the US Treasury debt eased, helping to allay concern about a possible rise in interest rates.

Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong closed lower and Frankfurt retreated in early trading. London opened higher. Overnight, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index climbed 2.4%, recovering most of its losses from the past week.

That came after a Treasury selloff abated after pushing yields to their highest level in a year. That helped to dampen concerns about a possible rise in interest rates and downward pressure on the US economic recovery.Investors “appear to be taking a breather” after Monday’s recovery, Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a report.

Also Tuesday, Australia’s central bank left its policy unchanged at its March meeting.

Japan reported employment rose despite a state of emergency to cope with renewed coronavirus outbreaks and South Korea reported higher factory output.

In early trading, the DAX in Frankfurt lost 0.1% to 14,005.48. The FTSE 100 in London gained 0.2% to 6,599.62 and the CAC 40 in Paris added less than 0.1% to 5,795.71.

On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were off 0.5%.

On Monday, the Dow gained 2% and the Nasdaq composite climbed 3%.