Asian shares fell for a second straight day on Thursday as weak earnings from US tech giants deepened Wall Street's selloff, while fresh US sanctions on Russia and potential export curbs on China reignited geopolitical tensions. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.4 per cent, and Japan's Nikkei 225 dropped 1.5 per cent. Chinese stocks fell as much as 1.1 per cent after reports that Washington is weighing new restrictions on software-related exports to China in response to Beijing's limits on rare earth exports. South Korea's Kospi declined 0.7 per cent as the Bank of Korea held rates steady. Meanwhile, India's Reliance Industries and other refiners reportedly plan to cut Russian oil imports due to tightening Western sanctions. On Wall Street, S&P 500 futures edged up 0.1 per cent after another day of losses, with disappointing results from Netflix and Tesla weighing on sentiment. Apple shares slipped 1.6 per cent after being hit with an EU antitrust complaint. US Treasury yields hovered near 3.95 per cent, while traders priced in a 96.7 per cent chance of a Federal Reserve rate cut on October 29. The dollar firmed 0.1 per cent to 99.06. Attribution: Reuters
