Asian shares are mixed following Wall Street losses as US Treasury's moves fail to calm markets
Currency traders work at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. Credit: AP/Ahn Young-joon
HONG KONG — Asian shares were mixed on Friday following a retreat on Wall Street as a U.S. Treasury Department plan to boost its government debt buybacks had only limited capacity to calm markets.
U.S. futures edged higher.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.2% to 66,080.25. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.9% to 6,914.09. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.7% to 25,888.36, while the Shanghai Composite index was unchanged at 3,903.81.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was trading 0.3% lower at 9,053.90. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.4%, while India’s Sensex was 0.1% lower.
The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that it will at least double the size of its planned purchases of longer-term government debt, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled Thursday that the repurchase program could be larger.
The announcement temporarily brought down government bond yields, which have been elevated under concerns about high inflation partly caused by the war in Iran and rising U.S. government debt. Higher yields tend to slow the broader economy due to increased borrowing costs across the financial system and can undercut stock prices.
But analysts said they expect the effect on bond yields were to be temporary. The yield of the U.S. 10-year Treasury was at around 4.71% early Friday, up from nearly 4.64% on Thursday and back to around the level before the Treasury department’s announcement.
A currency trader watches monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. Credit: AP/Ahn Young-joon
The 30-year Treasury yield was at about 5.26%, up from 5.18% on Thursday.
In Asia, bond yields also rose back. Japan’s 10-year government bond yield, which had been trading near 30-year highs, rose to 2.88% from around 2.83% on Thursday.
The latest climb in bond yields has weighed on share prices. On Thursday, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 lost 0.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3%, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite dropped 1%.
In other dealings early Friday, oil prices fell slightly, even as the U.S. stepped up its economic threats toward Iran while limited progress has been made toward de-escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Aug. 21, 2026. Credit: AP/Ahn Young-joon
Brent crude, the international standard, fell 0.2% to $93.64 a barrel. It was trading at roughly $72 per barrel before the start of the war. Benchmark U.S. crude was down 0.3% to $86.59 a barrel.
The U.S. dollar fell to 159.01 Japanese yen from 159.05 yen. The euro was trading at $1.1694, up from $1.1678.
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