Asian equity futures under pressure after U.S. stocks, oil slide – Reuters

Asian equity futures under pressure after U.S. stocks, oil slide – Reuters

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares hit a two-week low on Wednesday, oil weakened further and the dollar neared four-month highs as coronavirus lockdowns in Europe and potential U.S. tax hikes hit risk appetite, leading to a flight to safety.FILE PHOTO: A man walks past a stock quotation board at a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan February 26, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/File PhotoMSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan was off 1% after falling 0.9% on Tuesday. It went as low as 676.46 points, a level last seen on March 9.The index has had a disappointing run in March after five straight months of gains, as risk assets were earlier spooked by fears inflation will pick up at a faster-than-expected pace led by successful coronavirus vaccine rollouts and massive U.S. fiscal stimulus.Japan's Nikkei stumbled 1.8% while South Korea's KOSPI slipped 0.5%. Chinese shares were in the red for a second day with the blue-chip CSI300 index down 1.2%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng skidded 1.7%.On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.94%, the S&P 500 lost 0.76% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.12%.“The combination of increasing lockdowns in much of Europe, and some risk reduction in the EM space,