GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia shares wallow near one-month lows on inflation anxiety

* Asian stock markets : https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4

SYDNEY, May 12 (Reuters) - Asian shares languished near
one-month lows on Wednesday as investors speculated surging
commodity prices and growing inflationary pressure in the United
States could lead to earlier rate hikes and higher bond yields
globally.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS eased 0.1%, after tumbling 1.6% on Tuesday for
its biggest daily percentage drop since March 24.
"There isn't a clear catalyst behind this purge," said
Marios Hadjikyriacos, investment analyst for XM.
"It seems to be a combination of inflation fears making a
comeback and some market participants moving higher along the
value spectrum, cutting their exposure to anything with a
stretched valuation."
At 683.8 points, the regional index is not too far from a
record high of 745.89 touched in February and is still up 3%
this year so far, on top of a 19% jump in 2020 and a near 16%
rise in 2019.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 rose 0.6%.
Australia shares skidded 0.4% while South Korea's KOSPI
index .KS11 slipped 0.1%.
Some analysts said the fact the sell-off was largely
contained to technology shares suggested that investors were
merely moving away from more speculative plays, rather than
entirely losing faith in the economic outlook.
"Indeed, this correction could even calm some 'bubble'
concerns, considering what is being sold," Hadjikyriacos said.
Analysts, however, doubt the sell-off would extend much
further in a world of easy accommodative policy and fiscal
largesse.
Overnight on Wall Street, technology stocks were again among
the biggest losers though the tech-focused Nasdaq .IXIC
reversed the bulk of its early 2% decline over the course of the
day. The Dow .DJI dropped 1.4% and the S&P 500 .SPX fell
0.9%.
The equity rout barely helped drive any safe haven flows
into the greenback, and futures pointed to a mildly positive
open for Wall Street. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1
nudged 0.1% higher in early Asian trading.
All eyes are now on the U.S. consumer price index report to
be released by the U.S. Labor Department on Wednesday with
market-based measures of inflation expectations having moved
higher US5YTIP=RR US10YTIP=RR .
Treasury yields have remained stuck to a tight range. The
yield on benchmark 10-year Treasuries US10YT=RR edged up to
1.6306%, still a far cry from the 2% level seen in before the
coronavirus pandemic. US/
The dollar was up 0.1% against the Japanese yen JPY= at
108.74 as it meandered in a narrow 107-110 band.
The dollar index =USD , which measures the greenback
against six major currencies, was little changed at 90.219,
after touching a two-month low of 89.979. USD/
The currencies of major natural resource suppliers such as
Canada stood firm amid rising commodity prices.
The loonie CAD=D3 held near a 3-1/2-year high of C$1.2078.
The Australian dollar AUD=D3 , another proxy for commodity
prices, was not far from a 10-week high of $0.7891 struck on
Monday.
Oil prices were lifted by fears of a gasoline shortage after
a cyber attack caused an outage at the largest U.S. fuel
pipeline system.
U.S. crude CLc1 gained 35 cents to $65.63 a barrel. Brent
crude LCOc1 added 32 cents to $68.87 per barrel. O/R
Spot gold was off a shade at $1,836.2 an ounce. XAU=
In cryptocurrencies, ether ETH=BTSP hovered near record
highs touched on Monday to be at $4,178.6. The value of the
second-biggest digital token has surged over 5.5 times so far
this year.

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Asia stock markets https://tmsnrt.rs/2zpUAr4
Asia-Pacific valuations https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dr2BQA
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Editing by Shri Navaratnam)