Asian markets settled lower on Wednesday tracking Wall Street’s fall overnight as rising inflation risks and geopolitical tensions lifted the 30-year US Treasury bond yield to its highest in nearly two decades and the 10-year yield to its highest level in more than a year. Moreover, traders fretted over a renewed escalation in the Middle East after US President Trump claimed the United States was just an hour away from launching a fresh military strike on Iran before postponing it at the request of Gulf leaders. Chinese shares dipped after the country's central bank -- People's Bank of China left benchmark lending rates unchanged for the 12th consecutive month in May, leaving the one-year loan prime rate at 3.0% and the five-year LPR at 3.5%. Japanese shares declined sharply as the yield on the 10-year Japanese government bond held at its highest level since 1997 on BoJ interest rate hike expectations.
| Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
| Shanghai Composite | 4,162.18 | -7.35 | -0.18 |
| Hang Seng | 25,651.12 | -146.73 | -0.57 |
| Jakarta Composite | 6,318.50 | -52.18 | -0.83 |
| KLSE Composite | 1,717.69 | -9.58 | -0.55 |
| Nikkei 225 | 59,804.41 | -746.18 | -1.23 |
| Straits Times | 5,044.91 | -27.43 | -0.54 |
| KOSPI Composite | 7,208.95 | -62.71 | -0.86 |
| Taiwan Weighted | 40,020.82 | -154.74 | -0.39 |
