* South Korean stocks rebound, Wall St futures ease
* Iran and Israel put attacks on hold, for now
* Bonds on defensive as markets brace for rate hikes
By Wayne Cole
SYDNEY, June 9 (Reuters) - Asian stock markets tried to
stabilise on Tuesday and oil prices came off highs after Israel
and Iran said they would halt attacks on each other for now,
while ever-hopeful investors bought the latest dip in
semiconductor stocks.
Analysts cautioned the bounce was narrowly based with 60%
of the S&P 500 finishing in the red overnight even as the
overall index edged up. Share futures for Wall Street and Europe
were also lower in early trading.
Higher bond yields continued to test stretched equity
valuations, with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz still
badly restricted.
"Inflation remains sticky enough that 46 of 68 global
central banks are overshooting targets, which helps explain why
bond markets are repricing for tighter policy, and why
long-duration assets, private credit, and several EM currencies
are struggling," analysts at BofA said in a note.
"Our Global Breadth Rule shows nearly half of equity markets
already overbought, led by Korea, Taiwan and Finland."
South Korea's share market climbed 3.0%, having
dived more than 8% on Monday after a run of spectacular gains
left valuations stretched and retail investors with extended
margin positions.
Japan's Nikkei inched up 0.3%, after losing 3.9% the
previous session, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific
shares outside Japan rose 0.9%.
For Europe, EUROSTOXX 50 futures and DAX futures
both fell 0.6%, while FTSE futures dipped 0.4%.
S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures were both
down 0.3%. The next big test for tech will be results from
Oracle on Wednesday.
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Apple ( AAPL ) shares failed to get any initial boost from a
long-delayed AI overhaul of Siri, unveiled at its annual
Worldwide Developers Conference.
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI confidentially filed for a U.S. initial
public offering on Monday, joining rival Anthropic in a trillion
dollar rush for equity financing.
Bond markets continued to struggle as the strong May U.S.
payrolls report pushed investors to price in more risk of rate
hikes from the Federal Reserve. Data on U.S. consumer prices due
Wednesday are expected to show surging energy costs kept pushing
headline inflation higher in May.
Futures imply around a 60% chance of a Fed rate rise as soon
as October, and a quarter-point move is almost fully priced for
December.
Two-year Treasury yields stood at 4.158%, having
hit their highest since early 2025 at 4.201% overnight.
Markets are also fully priced for a quarter-point hike to
2.25% from the European Central Bank when it meets on Thursday,
and see the key rate at 2.5% or 2.75% by year-end.
The surprising strength of U.S. employment kept the dollar
underpinned at 160.17 yen, just off an overnight top at
160.395. The next bull target is a 160.725 peak from April,
though investors are wary a break could draw renewed
intervention from Japanese authorities.
The euro was stuck at $1.1527, after hitting a
nine-week low at $1.1500 overnight, while the pound edged
off a three-week trough to $1.3334.
In commodity markets, Brent crude eased 0.2% to
$94.08 a barrel, after pushing as high as $98.00 overnight,
while U.S. crude dipped 0.3% to $91.06 a barrel.
Gold slipped 0.3% to $4,316 an ounce, having touched
a two-month trough at $4,268.39 on Monday.