{"id":86468,"date":"2026-05-20T20:20:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T10:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/?p=86468"},"modified":"2026-05-20T20:20:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T10:20:04","slug":"wednesday-20th-may-2026-rising-bond-yields-and-iran-tensions-drag-asia-pacific-markets-lower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wednesday-20th-may-2026-rising-bond-yields-and-iran-tensions-drag-asia-pacific-markets-lower\/","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday 20th May 2026: Rising Bond Yields and Iran Tensions Drag Asia-Pacific Markets Lower"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3><br \/>Global Markets:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>&nbsp;Asian Stock Markets : Nikkei down 1.52%, Shanghai Composite down 0.45% Hang Seng down 0.54% ASX down 1.26%<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Commodities : Gold at $4,462.15 (-0.52%) Silver at $73.890 (-0.15%), Brent Oil at $110.71 (-0.24%), WTI Oil at $103.76 (-0.22%)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rates : US 10-year yield at 4.670, UK 10-year yield at 5.1320, Germany 10-year yield at 3.1885<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>News &amp; Data:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>(CAD) CPI m\/m&nbsp; 0.4%&nbsp; to 0.7% &nbsp; expected<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3>Markets Update:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Asia-Pacific markets declined Wednesday as investors assessed rising bond yields and renewed geopolitical tensions after U.S. President Donald Trump said he was \u201can hour away\u201d from approving a strike on Iran before delaying the decision for several days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. Treasury yields climbed as investors sold bonds amid fears that inflation pressures could return. The 30-year Treasury yield briefly touched 5.197%, its highest level since July 2007, before easing slightly to 5.174%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Japan, super-long government bond yields cooled after recent record highs, with the 30-year JGB yield falling more than 3 basis points to 4.122%. However, shorter-term debt remained under pressure, with the 5-year JGB yield reaching a record 2.041%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>State Street strategist Masahiko Loo said rising Japanese bond yields are contributing to a broader global \u201cduration reset,\u201d but are unlikely to create systemic financial stress. He noted that Japan\u2019s debt market remains largely domestically funded and supported by strong household savings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Regional equities weakened broadly. Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.29% and the Topix fell 1.45%. South Korea\u2019s Kospi lost 0.69%, while the Kosdaq slid 2.23%. Australia\u2019s S&amp;P\/ASX 200 declined 0.85%. Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng fell 0.55%, and mainland China\u2019s CSI 300 slipped 0.3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. stock futures edged higher after Wall Street closed lower overnight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3>Upcoming Events:<br \/><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>12:30 PM GMT &#8211; CAD CPI m\/m<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global Markets: News &amp; Data: Markets Update: Asia-Pacific markets declined Wednesday [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":84958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[196,215,339],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86468"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86469,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86468\/revisions\/86469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.icmarkets.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}