pedestrians wait to cross a road at a junction near a giant display of stock indexes in shanghai china august 3 2022 reutersaly song singapore aug 16 reuters  asian markets struggled for direction on tuesday weighed by worries over global growth following weak china data that knocked oil prices and commoditylinked currencies the dollar held near a oneweek high as investors piled back into the safehaven currency while the aussie euro and chinese yuan buckled mscis broadest index of asiapacific shares outside japan miapj0000pus ticked up 02 recovering from mondays losses mscis benchmark index has gained 5 from the years lows but is still down 15 so far this year just as investors were taking heart from a fourweek rally in global equities that pushed markets to their highest in more than three months mondays underwhelming chinese activity data spanning industrial output and retail sales hit sentiment also us singlefamily homebuilders confidence and new york state factory activity fell in august to their lowest since near the start of the covid19 pandemic a further sign the worlds largest economy is softening as the federal reserve raises interest rates read more in short the risks of a global recession are suddenly much clearer then again they were always clear to some rabobank said in a note and does anyone think that a centralbank pivot will make them less likely at this stage overall the picture was mixed across asian bourses on tuesday with tokyo n225 and taiwan benchmarks little changed while south korean stocks ks11 gained 05 chinese stocks rose a day after the central bank unexpectedly cut interest rates after data showed economic activity and credit expansion slowed sharply in july the csi 300 index csi300 ticked up 01 after dipping on monday on wall street major indexes climbed on monday reversing earlier session losses shares posted four straight weeks of gains amid optimism over a slowdown in us inflation that could temper the pace of fed rate hikes the us economy contracted in the first and second quarters amplifying an ongoing debate over whether the country is or will soon be in recession read more growth worries were also the dominant theme in europe euro zone government bond yields fell on monday with investors concerned about possible recession and amid persistent fears of production cuts in germany due to potential gas rationing on tuesday the dollar index  which measures the greenback against six major peers held steady at 10653 just below the previous sessions peak of 10655 the strongest since monday of last week the euro  the most heavily weighted currency in the dollar index was flat at 10158 after earlier slipping to the weakest since aug 5 at 10154 the australian dollar fell as low as 070005 threatening to drop below the psychological 70 cent mark for the first time since wednesday new zealands kiwi slipped to 06349 also the lowest since wednesday fragile demand outlook hit oil prices as they extended losses from the previous session brent crude futures lost 1 to 94 a barrel after falling to their lowest on monday since before russia sent troops into ukraine on feb 24 wti crude futures shed 07 to 8880 a barrel