Tech stocks put pressure on world shares

World shares struggled on Tuesday as a rally in commodity-related assets gave in to pressure on heavily weighed tech stocks and investors awaited reassurance from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on the path for monetary policy in United States.

European tech stocks were on set for their worst day in four months, down 2.7%, and futures on the Nasdaq fell 1.5% after losses in stocks like Apple and Tesla dragged the index down 2.5% on Monday.

The MSCI world equity benchmark fell 0.1% to fresh two-week lows by 1138 GMT, having earlier risen on gains in commodityheavy equity indexes in Asia. S&P 500 futures also fell and were last down 0.5%.

Tesla shares were set to plunge into the red for the year, hit by a fall of bitcoin, in which the electric carmaker recently invested $1.5 billion. The level of angst was also reflected in equity volatility gauges which rose to multi-week highs, while on bond markets German and U.S. yields moved in different directions, even though both remained just below the highs hit on Monday.

After being knocked off from eight-month high by European Central Bank chief Christine Lagarde signalling discomfort with the recent surge in yields, 10year Bund yields resumed their upward trend and were last at - 0.297%.

Oil prices jumped by more than $1 at one point, underpinned by optimism over COVID-19 vaccine rollouts and lower output as U.S. supplies were slow to return after a deep freeze in Texas shut in crude production last week. Brent crude was last up 0.7% at $65.7 a barrel after earlier hitting a fresh 13-month high of $66.79, while U.S. crude rose 0.8% to $62.17 a barrel.

Copper prices meanwhile hit a 9-1/2-year high as tight supply and solid demand from top consumer China boosted sentiment.

Bitcoin fell as much as 17%, sparking a sell-off across cryptocurrency markets as investors grew nervous at sky-high valuations.