GLOBAL MARKETS-Stocks struggle as taper talk, crypto crash put markets on edge

[ASFN Admin]

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.

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