HONG KONG : Asian share markets fell on Friday, after red-hot U.S. inflation data and hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official fuelled bets on U.S. interest rates being hiked more aggressively, and sent U.S. Treasury yields jumping.
Broader moves across Asian stocks followed U.S. data on Thursday which showed consumer prices surged 7.5per cent last month on a year-over-year basis, topping economists' estimates of 7.3per cent and marking the biggest annual increase in inflation in 40 years. U.S. markets overnight had sold off more aggressively than those in Asia did on Friday morning, the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1.47per cent, the S&P 500 lost 1.81per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.1per cent. [.
Two-year notes, which typically move in step with interest rate expectations, were yielding 1.5643per cent having jumped sharply after the CPI data.