Australian shares are poised to fall at the open, with losses gathering pace in afternoon trade in New York after an overnight surge in Japanese bond yields triggered selling of US Treasuries.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed more than 2 per cent near 2pm on Wall Street. Information technology led 10 of the 11 S&P 500 industry sectors lower. Consumer staples edged higher.

Bitcoin fell below $US90,000. Gold surged through $US4750 an ounce, resetting its record high yet again. The US dollar slid 0.7 per cent against the euro. The spot US dollar index shed 0.9 per cent. The yield on the US 10-year note rose 6 basis points to 4.28 per cent.

“The sharp fall in the [US] dollar including against the euro with yields and US/global stocks while gold, European defence and Swiss Franc move higher, is the ‘tell’ within the market reaction to the Greenland crisis,” Evercore ISI’s Krishna Guha said in a note.

“This is ‘sell America’ again within a much broader global risk off. The fact that the dollar is falling while the euro is rising on the crisis says global investors at the margin are looking to reduce or hedge their exposure to a volatile and unreliable US.”

Market highlights

ASX 200 futures are pointing down 51 points or 0.6 per cent to 8737.
All US prices near 2pm New York time.

AUD +0.3% to US67.34¢Bitcoin -3.9% to $US89,371On Wall St: Dow -1.7% S&P -1.8% Nasdaq -2.1%VIX +1.36 to 20.20Gold +1.9% to $US4757.89 an ounceBrent oil +1.4% to $US64.81 a barrelIron ore -0.4% to $US104.20 a tonne10-year yield: US 4.28% Australia 4.78%Today’s agenda

Results are expected on Wednesday from: Rio Tinto, Beach Energy, Evolution Mining, Lynas Rare Earths, Paladin Energy and Yalcoal Australia.

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