Global equity markets came under pressure as a jump in long-dated government bond yields and elevated Middle East tensions drove investors out of risk assets. In Asia on Wednesday, South Korea's KOSPI fell more than 6% at one point, triggering circuit breakers and the Korea Exchange's SIDERCAR program-trading halt, while Japan's Nikkei 225 briefly dropped 2,048 points, or 3.03%, to 65,412. Malaysia's FBM KLCI fell 4.85 points to 1,728.51 in early trade and the FBM ACE Index slipped 22.67 points, or 0.43%, to 5,301.18 as traders turned defensive and took profits after a three-week small-cap rally. The selloff followed a third straight decline on Wall Street on Tuesday, where the Dow fell 0.22%, the S&P 500 dropped 0.69% and the Nasdaq lost 1.33%, with semiconductor shares leading losses. The main pressure point was the rise in long-dated yields, with the US 30-year Treasury yield briefly hitting a 19-year high, while geopolitical uncertainty persisted after US President Donald Trump said there were no ongoing or planned talks with Iran. Defensive sectors including healthcare, consumer staples, energy, plantation and some financial names were seen as relative havens as oil remained elevated, with WTI settling at $84.94 a barrel and Brent at $91.02.