GLOBAL MARKETS-Asian stocks fall as rising bond yields impact shares

* MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan 0.79% lower
* China's Shenzhen CSI 300 0.9% lower
* Dollar gains on euro, yen as U.S. yields race ahead
* Nasdaq falls 2.4%, confirming correction

By Paulina Duran and Matt Scuffham
SYDNEY/NEW YORK, March 9 (Reuters) - Asian stocks were lower
on Tuesday as rising bond yields impacted tech shares and
company valuations in China and Korea and investors grappled
with their inflation fears as the United States looks set to
pass a $1.9 trillion stimulus package.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan
.MIAPJ0000PUS was 0.79% lower while Korea's Kospi .KS11 fell
by 1.88%, its fourth straight session of losses. Japan's Nikkei
.N225 pared back earlier losses in the session to be 0.24%
higher.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said on Monday that
President Joe Biden's coronavirus aid package would provide
enough resources to fuel a "very strong" U.S. economic recovery,
and noted "there are tools" to deal with inflation. Despite the positive cues, investors remain conflicted over
whether the stimulus will help global growth rebound faster from
the COVID-19 downturn or cause the world's biggest economy to
overheat and lead to runaway inflation.
"The chance of our seeing more inflation in the economy is
meaningfully increased by the monetary policy actions and the
fiscal policy actions that we're seeing around the world,"
Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer David Solomon told a
conference in Sydney via webcast.
"There is certainly a reasonable outcome where inflation
accelerates more quickly than people are expecting, and that
will obviously have an impact on markets and volatility."
The technology sector and other richly valued companies have
been highly susceptible to the rising rates.
Australian shares tracked overnight gains on Wall Street
with the main S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO climbing as much as
1.04% on Tuesday. However, Australian tech stocks slid for the
sixth straight session in line with their U.S. peers.
The index gave back those gains to be only 0.40% higher in
afternoon trading following the tech declines and a 10% fall in
Insurance Australia Group IAG.AX shares ahead of an
announcement regarding the insolvency of financial services
provider Greensill Capital. China's blue-chips .CSI300 were 1% lower while Hong Kong's
Hang Seng .HSI advanced 0.9%.
On Wall Street, the Dow advanced while the Nasdaq shed over
2%, marking a more than 10% fall since its Feb. 12 closing high
and confirming a correction in the index's value.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.97%, the S&P
500 .SPX lost 0.54%, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped
2.41%.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index .STOXX rose 2.10% and
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe .MIWD00000PUS shed
0.02%.
"If rates are grinding higher because people are getting
optimistic about what economic growth looks like, that is still
supportive for equity prices," said Tom Hainlin, global
investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management's Ascent
Private Wealth Group in Minneapolis.
U.S. treasury yields advanced as investors continued to
price in higher inflation and more upbeat prospects for the U.S.
economy as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.
The benchmark 10-year yield US10YT=RR rose to 1.6029%,
from 1.594% late on Monday.
On foreign exchange markets, the dollar index =USD hit a
three-and-a-half month high, rising 0.523%, with the euro EUR=
up 0.06% to $1.185.
Oil prices were higher on Tuesday, but failed to recoup the
gains on Monday after attacks on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia
lifted prices to the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were up 33 cents, or 0.51%, at
$68.57 per barrel. U.S. crude futures CLc1 were 27 cents, or
0.42% higher at $65.32.
Spot gold XAU= added 0.4% to $1,688.42 an ounce.

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