* Trump pauses planned attack on Iran, says 'good chance'
of Iran nuclear deal
* US futures reverse early gains, European futures edge
higher
* Bond selloff abates as oil prices ease
* Dollar back at 159 yen, traders on alert for
intervention
By Rae Wee
SINGAPORE, May 19 (Reuters) - Asian shares wobbled on
Tuesday while bonds found their footing following a steep
selloff after U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to pause a
planned attack on Iran and his claim there was a good chance of
a nuclear deal sent oil prices lower.
Trump said on Monday he had paused a planned attack against
Iran to allow for negotiations to take place on a deal to end
the war, after Tehran sent a new peace proposal to Washington.
He subsequently said there was a "very good chance" the U.S.
could reach an agreement with Iran to prevent Tehran from
obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Still, investors remained cautious after being rattled in
the previous session by a weekend drone strike in the United
Arab Emirates.
"We've seen a lot of back and forth already," said Fabien
Yip, a market analyst at IG.
"Until we actually see real action happening (in the Strait
of Hormuz), whereby ships are passing through safely and we see
a material rebound in the numbers of traffic going through in
the Strait, I think the market in general is shrugging off the
commentary from either side."
Brent crude futures fell more than 2% to $109.41 a
barrel on the back of Trump's comments, while U.S. crude
was down 1.3% to $107.25 per barrel, though both remained more
than 50% above their pre-war levels.
In share markets, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific
shares outside Japan was down 0.22%, while
Japan's Nikkei rose 1%. South Korea's Kospi fell
2%.
Nasdaq futures reversed early gains to trade 0.07%
lower, while S&P 500 futures lost 0.03%. In Europe,
EUROSTOXX 50 futures rose 0.4%, while FTSE futures
and DAX futures edged 0.3% and 0.4% higher,
respectively.
The all-important artificial intelligence trade will be
tested by earnings from Nvidia ( NVDA ) that are due on
Wednesday, where expectations are sky-high for the world's most
valuable company.
"Nvidia's ( NVDA ) earnings are the ultimate test for a stock market
that is not only trading at record highs, but one that also had
a breathtaking bounce off of the March lows, as Nvidia ( NVDA ) is the
market's shorthand for everything AI and this market's gains
have been driven in large part by AI over the past few years,"
said Richard Reyle, chief investment officer at Questar Capital
Partners.
BOND SELLOFF ABATES
The fall in oil prices helped stem a steep selloff in global
bonds on Tuesday, though worries remained about the lasting
inflationary shock from the Iran war.
Yields on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note
eased from a more than one-year high to 4.5974% in
early Asian trade, while the two-year yield was down
slightly to 4.0564%.
Japanese government bond yields, which shot to record highs
in the previous session, were similarly down across the curve.
Overnight, G7 finance ministers acknowledged mounting
concerns over public debt and bond market volatility as they met
in Paris.
Markets are now pricing in rate hikes from major central
banks this year on expectations policymakers will have to
tighten policy to combat a resurgence in inflation driven by
higher-for-longer energy prices.
"While the economic rationale for pricing persistently
higher inflation over the coming years on the current supply
shock is weak particularly given the labor market backdrop, a
return of supply-side volatility and the sanguine growth tone in
markets both argue for more risk premium through the inflation
curve," Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note.
In foreign exchange, the dollar has benefited from
safe-haven demand since the onset of the war and was up 0.1% at
159 yen, putting traders on alert for any intervention
from Tokyo to shore up its ailing currency.
The euro was down 0.1% at $1.1643, while sterling
similarly fell 0.1% to $1.3419.
Elsewhere, spot gold eased marginally to $4,562.50 an
ounce, having come under pressure from rising bond yields.