By Gregor Stuart Hunter
SINGAPORE, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Asian stock markets stuttered in early trade on Tuesday as a selloff on Wall Street overnight rattled investors, with sentiment hurt by heightened uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policy and rising geopolitical tensions.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan flipped from gains to losses following a six-day rally, and was last down 0.2%, led by declines in South Korea.
The Nikkei 225 advanced 0.7% as Japanese
markets returned after a holiday. S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 0.1%.
Stock market momentum "has been under pressure with increased concerns around the AI trade and escalation in geopolitical and trade uncertainty," analysts from Bernstein wrote in a research report.
On Monday, Trump warned countries against backing away from recently negotiated trade deals with the U.S. after the Supreme Court struck down his emergency tariffs, saying that he would hit them with much higher duties under different trade laws.
The new tariffs are based on Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, causing further confusion in markets trying to come to grips with U.S. protectionist policies.
Overnight, the S&P 500 was down 1.0%, erasing the past week of gains, as fears over the displacement effects of AI on software and other industries pushed the Nasdaq Composite 1.1% lower. A bearish report from Citrini Research on the possible risks to the global economy took a further toll on jittery investor sentiment.
The CBOE Volatility Index, commonly known as the VIX, rose 1.9 percentage points to 21.01.
Japan and China are returning from holidays on Tuesday, adding to liquidity in regional markets. Against the yen, the U.S. dollar was 0.1% stronger at 154.77 yen. The Chinese yuan was unchanged at 6.889 yuan in offshore trade.
Fed funds futures are pricing an implied 95.5% probability that the U.S. central bank will remain on hold at its next two-day meeting on March 18, little changed from a day earlier, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury bond was up 0.6 basis point at 4.029% as investors pondered the implications of the Supreme Court's decision on U.S. tax receipts.
In commodities markets, WTI crude edged down 0.1% to $66.23, as tensions continued to simmer between the U.S. and Iran. On Monday, a senior State Department official said the department is pulling out non-essential government personnel and their eligible family members from the U.S. embassy in Lebanon, amid growing concerns about the risk of a military conflict.
All of this uneasiness pushed the safe-haven gold up 0.3% to $5,244.96, while silver slipped 0.1% to $88.12.
Bitcoin climbed 0.4% to $64,832.48, while ether was down 0.1% at $1,861.22.
(Reporting by Gregor Stuart Hunter Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
