us stocks slid thursday erasing their gains from earlier in the day after a selloff in government bonds picked up steam the renewed push higher in bond yields put fresh pressure on the stock market higher rates can put pressure on stocks because they reduce the premium that investors get from holding riskier assets instead of treasurys the sp 500 fell 6579 points or 15 to 439366 the nasdaq composite dropped 27841 points or 21 to 1317465 adding to losses from wednesday after a selloff in netflix shares led the technology sector lower the dow jones industrial average was down 36803 points or 1 to 3479276 japanese stocks were lower dragged by declines in tech stocks as concerns persisted about the pace of feds policy tightening recruit holdings fell 50 and m3 inc was 48 lower meanwhile toshiba corp roses 43 after it decided to solicit proposals for privatization investors were focusing on earnings as well as bond yield movements the nikkei stock average was 22 lower at 2695514 south koreas kospi fell 11 to 269731 in early trade dragged lower by tech and energy stocks sentiment was being dimmed by fed chair powells comments indicating that the us central bank was likely to raise interest rates next month by a halfpercentagepoint and begin shrinking its 9 trillion asset portfolio usdkrw was 03 higher at 124220 as traders digest the feds hawkish stance index heavyweight samsung electronics fell 10 memorychip maker sk hynix lost 18 and evbattery maker lg energy solution shed 11 hong kong shares were lower in early trading with the benchmark hang seng index down 18 at 2029759 tracking weakness in us equity markets overnight aggressive us fed tightening and stagflation fears are weighing on investor sentiment ig market strategist yeap jun rong said in a note all except one of the hsis constituents were negative with china unicoms shares flat after reporting higher 1q net profit late thursday losses were led by alibaba group which was 40 lower followed by jdcom haidilao and geely automobile which retreated 37 35 and 29 respectively chinese stocks were lower tracking broad declines among other asian equities the shanghai composite index fell 09 to 305309 the shenzhen composite index declined 10 to 190409 while the chinext price index was 05 lower at 229905 sentiment was being weighed by president xi on thursday defending the countrys zerocovid policy and the ongoing reforms which failed to reassure investors igs market strategist yeap jun rong said concerns over chinas covid19 lockdowns supply chain disruptions and muted pickup in the property sector were likely to persist the analyst said consumer stocks were lower with kweichow moutai falling 06 and hangzhou robam appliances declining 22 most asian currencies were weaker versus the us dollar in the morning session following comments by fed chairman powell sending yet another clear hawkish signal ig market strategist yeap jun rong says in an email us dollar strengthened following powells comments which were seen as cementing a 50 basis points increase in the upcoming may meeting to tackle soaring inflation he said powells stance that the process to restore price stability without creating a slowdown that amounts to a recession was going to be very challenging has added to market jitters the analyst added usdjpy rose 02 to 12858 usdsgd gained 01 to 13648 while audusd fell 02 to 07354 gold was little changed in early asian trading although prices were supported by tightness in the physical bullion market goldman sachs analysts said in a report the investment bank has a yearend gold target price of 2500 an ounce due to high demand it said the gold etf build continues chinese gold premium remains strong russia is likely buying up all domestic gold production and developedmarket retail gold purchases are running at record high levels if strength in physicalinvestment demand continued gold has to eventually rise to price out consumers and make room for investors gs analysts reckoned spot gold was flat at 195082 an ounce oil was lower in early asian trading with chinas covid19 lockdowns and the resulting reduction in mobility signaling that fuel demand and hence oil demand will normalize anz analysts said in a note that said production issues should offer support protests in libya had led to the countrys crude supply dropping to 800000 barrels a day from 13 million barrels a day while russian production was also falling amid the war in ukraine the analysts said they note opec producers were disciplined in march with production rising only 90000 barrels a day frontmonth brent and wti each fall 06 to 10768bbl and 10319bbl respectively