Stock markets struggle as taper talk, crypto crash put markets on edge

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Stock markets struggled for traction on Thursday after a jittery session on Wall Street where cryptocurrencies crashed and a hint of tapering talk from the U.S. Federal Reserve drove selling in the bond market and lifted the safe-haven dollar.

Benchmarks in South Korea and Japan were either side of flat in morning trade and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell about 0.8% to pull MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down by 0.2%.

Bitcoin, which plunged as much as 30% to $30,000 overnight, was struggling for support around $36,000. U.S. stock futures wobbled just below flat.

Commodities also fell, Treasuries nursed losses while the dollar held overnight gains.