BEIJING – Asian stock markets declined Tuesday after Wall Street rose as a wave of investor concern about possible higher interest rates receded.
Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Sydney declined. Seoul advanced. 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 selloff in U.S. Treasury bonds eased. That helped to assuage investor concerns that the cost of borrowing might rise, putting downward pressure on the U.S.
economic recovery. “Asian markets appear to be taking a breather this morning, having led the global equity recovery yesterday,” Jeffrey Halley of Oanda said in a report.