Asian shares joined Wall Street and Europe in surrendering some recent gains on Friday, retreating on the possibility of faster-than-expected U.S. interest rate increases that boosted 10-year U.S. Treasury yields to an 18-month high overnight.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS dropped 0.9 percent, and was on track to end the week 0.3 percent lower.
Japan's Nikkei .N225, which jumped to an 11-month high on Thursday, closed down 0.5 percent on Friday, but still posted a weekly gain of 0.24 percent.
China's CSI 300 index .CSI300 retreated 1 percent, shrinking gains for the week to 0.2 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index .HSI, Asia's biggest decliner on Friday with a 1.2 percent drop, is heading for a 0.6 percent weekly loss.
European shares were headed for a lower start, with financial spreadbetters expecting the Euro STOXX 50 index to open 0.8 percent lower, Britain's FTSE 100 .FTSE to shed 0.7 percent and Germany's DAX .GDAXI to begin the day 0.6 percent lower.
Investors in Europe remain nervous ahead of a constitutional referendum in Italy and a presidential election in Austria this weekend.
Yields for 10-year U.S. Treasuries US10YT=RR pulled back to 2.4357 percent on Friday, after touching an 18-month high of 2.492 percent on Thursday.
Reference: Reuters
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