International Business: Asian shares fall, US treasury yields hold firm after US inflation data – Gulf Digital News

International Business: Asian shares fall, US treasury yields hold firm after US inflation data – Gulf Digital News

HONG KONG: Asian share markets fell on Friday, after red-hot US inflation data and hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official fuelled bets on US interest rates being hiked more aggressively, and sent US Treasury yields jumping.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped 1.1%, with most markets in the red. Greater China markets, which had been buoyed by strong credit growth data and a resurgence in property stocks, gave up earlier gains. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.

An index tracking Hong Kong listed mainland property firms rose 1.7% after a media report that China will allow real estate firms easier access to presale proceeds from residential projects, loosening a liquidity squeeze on the sector.

Broader moves across Asian stocks followed US data on Thursday which showed consumer prices surged 7.5% last month on a year-over-year basis, topping economists' estimates of 7.3% and marking the biggest annual increase in inflation in 40 years.

Sentiment further soured after St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said the data had made him "dramatically" more hawkish. Bullard, a voting member of the Fed's rate-setting committee this year, said he now wanted a full percentage point of interest rate hikes by July