Bangkok, March 24 (BNA): Stocks fell in Asia on Friday as concerns about turmoil in the banking sector and recession risks offset gains on Wall Street.
Benchmarks fell in most major markets, while US futures were higher. Oil prices fell, according to the Associated Press.
Investors are worried that more banks could suffer a debilitating mass exodus of customers in the wake of the second and third largest US bank failures in history.
This turmoil is clouding expectations about what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates after raising them to market-shattering heights over the past year.
The fear is that all the turmoil in the banking industry could cause a sharp downturn in lending to small and medium businesses across the country.
This could put more stress on the economy, raising the risk of a recession that many economists already thought was likely.
Shares of regional banks in Asia fell slightly on Friday, with HSBC Holdings plc losing 3.4% in Hong Kong while Japanese mid-size bank Resona Holdings fell 3%.
In the US bond market, which has been home to some of the wildest moves on Wall Street this month, yields have fallen.
The yield on the two-year Treasury fell to 3.81% from 3.97% late Wednesday. It was higher than 5% earlier this month.
In other trading on Friday, the price of US crude oil fell 15 cents to $69.81 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 94 cents to 69.96 dollars a barrel.
Brent crude, the basis for international oil pricing, lost 17 cents to $75.33 a barrel.
The US dollar fell to 130.25 yen from 130.83 yen. The euro remained unchanged at $1.0833.
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