ASX loses nearly $20 billion, Nasdaq wipes out gains for 2021 as US Federal Reserve chief fails to calm markets over inflation fears

The Australian share market has lost nearly $20 billion in one day after after the tech-heavy Nasdaq index wiped out its gains for this year as the US central bank chairman took no steps to calm the market volatility which has pushed up bond yields. Key points: The Nasdaq has tumbled nearly 10 per cent from last month's record high The Nasdaq was down 2.3pc to 12,464, the Dow down 1.1pc to 30,924 and the S&P 500 down 1.3pc to 3,768 All Ordinaries fell 0.8pc to 6,943, the ASX 200 fell 0.75pc to 6,711 The All Ordinaries index fell more than 1 per cent at one point but came off those lows to finish down 0.8 per cent, or 58 points to 6,943. The market turmoil also roiled Asian markets, with the Nikkei 225 in Japan losing 1.9 per cent to 28,386, the Shanghai Composite losing 1.3 per cent to 3,458. By 4:50pm AEDT, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.25 per cent, and the Hang Seng had dropped by 0.4 per cent as investors digested China's modest annual growth target. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield spiked to 1.533 per cent because Mr Powell did not comment on any changes in the Fed's bond-buying program to tackle the surge in interest rates.