HONG KONG (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher on Friday following a retreat on Wall Street as a U.S. Treasury Department plan to boost its government debt buybacks had only limited capacity to calm markets.U.S. futures edged higher.Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.3% to 66,016.36. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.9% to 6,912.95. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.1% to 25,967.58, while the Shanghai Composite index was up less than 0.1% to 3,905.20.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3% to 9,058.90. Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.7%, while India’s Sensex was unchanged.The Treasury Department announced Wednesday that it will at least double the size of its planned purchases of longer-term government debt, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled Thursday that the repurchase program could be larger.The announcement temporarily brought down government bond yields, which have been elevated under concerns about high inflation partly caused by the war in Iran and rising U.S. government debt. Higher yields tend to slow the broader economy due to increased borrowing costs across the financial system and can undercut stock prices.
But analysts said they expect the effect on bond yields were to be temporary. The yield of the U.S. 10-year Treasury was around 4.69%, up from nearly 4.64% on Thursday and back near its level before the Treasury Department’s announcement.The 30-year Treasury yield was about 5.24%, up from 5.18% on Thursday.
