Asia-Pacific stocks slide following overnight Wall Street losses after hot U.S. inflation report

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific fell in Friday morning trade, tracking losses seen overnight on Wall Street after the release of a hotter-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation report pushed the 10-year Treasury yield past 2%.

South Korea’s Kospi fell 1% in early trade, with shares of automaker Hyundai Motor dropping about 2%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia declined 0.73%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.47% lower.

Markets in Japan are closed on Friday for a holiday.

Investors will monitor moves in U.S. bond yields on Friday, after the U.S. consumer price index for January showed a hotter-than-expected 7.5% year-over-year rise — its largest gain since 1982. The reading was also higher than Dow Jones estimates of 7.2% for the closely watched inflation gauge.

The benchmark U.S.10-year Treasury yield, which crossed 2% Thursday stateside after starting the year at 1.51%, last sat at 2.0346%. Yields move inversely to prices.

The major indexes on Wall Street tumbled overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping 526.47 points to 35,241.59 while the S&P 500 shed 1.81% to 4,504.08. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite lagged as it plunged 2.1% to 14,185.64.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 95.533 after recently dropping from levels close to 96 before bouncing from below 95.4.