Asian shares sink, Tokyo down 4% after tech rout on Wall St

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares skidded Friday, with Tokyo's benchmark dropping 4% after rising bond yields triggered a broad sell-off on Wall Street that handed the Nasdaq composite index its steepest one-day loss since October.

Tokyo, Hong Kong and Sydney all fell 2% or more in early trading Friday.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 3.5% on Thursday while the S&P 500 dropped 2.4%, led lower by heavy selling in technology and communications companies.

The sell-off gained momentum when the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note moved above 1.5%, a level not seen in more than a year and far above the 0.92% it was trading at only two months ago. That move raised the alarm on Wall Street that yields, and the interest rates they influence, will move higher from here.

Early Friday, the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note was 1.48%.

U.S. futures were lower, with the contract for the S&P 500 down 0.6% and that for the Dow industrials off 0.7%.

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 1,202.2 points to 28,966.01, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong sagged 2.4% to 29,065.00. The Shanghai Composite index shed 2.1% to 3,509.08. South Korea's Kospi declined 2.8% to 3,012.95. The S&P/ASX 200 slipped 2.4% to 6,673.30. India's Sensex gave up 3.4% to 49,320.98.

Bond yields have been rising this month, reflecting growing confidence among investors that the economy is on the path to recovery, but also expectations that inflation is headed higher, which might prompt central banks eventually to raise interest rates to cool price hikes. Rising yields can make stocks look less attractive relative to bonds to some investors, which is why every tick up in yields has corresponded with a tick down in stock prices.

In the past, such situations have triggered sell-offs in what has been called a...