The Nikkei suffers its worst day of the month so far
The decline in Japanese stocks gathered more traction in the final hour after the news that Tokyo has reported a record number of daily virus cases earlier here. That is also seeing risk trades keep more defensive ahead of European trading today.
10-year Treasury yields are down by 1.5 bps to 0.842% currently and that is keeping USD/JPY pinned closer to the 104.00 level at the moment.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Hang Seng is seen up 0.3% while the Shanghai Composite is up 0.1% but the mild gains belie the more tepid risk mood overall.
As for the Nikkei, it may have suffered its worst day of the month but it could be argued that this is "overdue" as the index trades at its highest levels since 1991.
Meanwhile, S&P 500 futures are seen down by 12 points (-0.3%) to just below 3,600.