Asian stocks today: Markets slip on Wall Street tech slump; oil cools after 2.1% overnight surge

Asian shares edged lower on Tuesday, tracking a slump in Wall Street's technology stocks, while silver and gold steadied after a sharp pullback from record highs cooled an extraordinary rally in precious metals.Silver was the biggest mover overnight, plunging 8.7% in its steepest one-day fall since August 2020, unwinding from what had become a parabolic rise. The metal rebounded 1.7% on Tuesday to $73.46 an ounce, after touching a peak of $83.62 a day earlier. Despite the drop, silver remains up about 150% for the year.The reversal spilled over into gold and other precious metals. Gold slid 4.4% overnight but later recovered, rising 0.6% to $4,356 an ounce.MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.1%, though it was still on track for a strong annual gain of 26.7%, its best performance since 2017, Reuters reported. Japan’s Nikkei fell 0.2% but is also up around 26% for the year. Taiwanese stocks declined 0.7%, while China’s blue-chip index dropped 0.3% following Beijing’s live-firing exercises around Taiwan.Overnight, Wall Street closed lower as heavyweight technology stocks pulled back from last week’s gains. Equity futures in Australia and Japan signalled a soft start to trading following the losses.The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, dragged down by declines in big technology stocks such as Tesla, Nvidia and Meta Platforms, while the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5%.Oil prices eased slightly after rising more than 2% in the previous session, with the pullback partly linked to weakness in precious metals, even as escalating Russia–Ukraine tensions kept supply disruption fears alive. Brent crude futures slipped 0.5% to $61.63 a barrel, after jumping 2.1% on Monday following Moscow’s accusation that Kyiv had targeted President Vladimir Putin’s residence.Bitcoin, which has dropped sharply since peaking above $126,000 in October, was steadying just below $90,000 after a turbulent end towards the year.