LONDON – Global shares staunched a sell-off on Tuesday, but US Treasury and German bond yields slipped to fresh five-month lows as a reminder that investors remained worried the spread of the Delta coronavirus variant could derail the economic recovery.

After their worst sell-off this year on Monday, Europe’s STOXX 600 added 0.2 percent, down from highs earlier in the session due to positive corporate earnings and production updates from miners. In the United States, e-mini futures for the S&P 500 index were up 0.4 percent.

The positive moves followed more selling in Asia, with MSCI’s gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan falling 0.6 percent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 hitting a six-month low, down nearly 1 percent.

The Hang Seng Index dropped 0.8 percent while China’s blue chip CSI300 Index was 0.1 percent lower.

MSCI’s broadest gauge of global shares was 0.2 percent lower, extending its longest losing streak in nearly 18 months.

“The reality is that this price action has become somewhat self-fulfilling as the myopic investor sentiment and positioning are forced to re-assess,” said James Athey, investment director at Aberdeen Standard Investments.

“I fear the equity selling isn’t over yet, and if I am right, Europe will be the worst place to be, given the index is value dominated – and thus very cyclical.”

Riskier assets globally have come under pressure recently as many countries struggle to contain the outbreak of the fast-spreading Delta virus variant, raising fears that further lockdowns and other restrictions could upend the worldwide economic recovery.

Stocks on Wall Street fell as much as 2 percent on Monday, with the Dow posting its worst day in nine months as COVID-19 deaths increased in the United States.

In a separate gauge of investor risk appetite, bitcoin fell below US$30,000 for the first time since June 22.

“The market was too quick in January-March to remove COVID from the equation, to look at the very short term implications of reopening and think inflation would be explosive. They didn’t want to focus on the longer term implications,” said Ludovic Colin, senior portfolio manager at Vontobel Asset Management.

In a sign of lingering fears of the spread of the Delta variant, the Aussie dollar/Swiss franc cross, a favourite proxy in currency markets for economic recovery bets, fell to its lowest level since December 2020 at 0.6714 francs, according to Refinitiv data.

Against a basket of its rivals, the US dollar strengthened widely on Tuesday and was close to an early-April high of 93.041 hit in the previous session.

US Treasury yields extended Monday’s searing rally. The 10-year yield reached 1.164 percent, a reading last seen in February.

The spread between the US 10-year and 2-year yield remained near February lows, signalling investor doubts about the growth outlook.

In Europe, Germany’s 10-year yield, the benchmark for the euro zone, briefly fell to -0.427 percent, breaching a new lowest level since February and was last at 0.418 percent.

Oil prices turned negative again after slumping around 7 percent in the previous session due to worries about future demand and after an OPEC+ agreement to increase supply.

Brent crude slipped 0.3 percent to US$68.44 a barrel. The US crude contract for August delivery, which expires later on Tuesday, was down 0.3 percent at US$66.15 a barrel.

Spot gold was up 0.2 percent US$1,816.01 per ounce after hitting a one-week low of US$1,794.06 in the previous session.