MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.35%, Australian shares were up 0.33%, and Seoul and Taiwan both ticked upwards 0.61% and 0.2%.
On Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.35% and the S&P 500 lost 0.81% as worries returned over surging global inflation cornering central banks into aggressive rate hikes, thereby slowing growth. New home sales in the US fell 16.6% month-on-month in April, the largest decline in nine years, sending US Treasuries yields down to one-month lows as investors turned once again to safety.
Gold prices also held their ground at $1,865.39 per ounce, having risen to their highest in two weeks on Tuesday as the safe-haven metal’s appeal was lifted by a weaker US dollar and lower Treasury yields.