By Kevin Buckland

TOKYO (Reuters) – Technology shares led a sell-off in equity markets in Asia, while the yen and U.S. bonds rallied as global investors struggled to find their footing in a turbulent week for markets.

The Japanese Nikkei index recently lost 1 percent, after previously falling by as much as 2.5 percent. The biggest burden on the index was shares in the chip sector. Despite the subsequent two-day recovery, the Nikkei lost more than 3 percent in the week, after already falling by 12.4 percent on Monday.

Taiwan’s technology-heavy benchmark index fell 2 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1 percent.

MSCI’s broadest stock index for the Asia-Pacific region lost 0.8 percent.

“Today’s Asian session could be important as many bought on dips in the hope of real follow-on buying and building upside momentum,” said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

“It is clear that we have not yet received the all-clear.”

Wall Street futures were weak, with S&P 500 futures losing 0.24 percent and Nasdaq futures losing 0.14 percent, after spot indices fell about 0.8 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively, on Wednesday.

Pan-European STOXX 50 futures fell 1.2%.

The yen, benefiting from generally weak market sentiment, rose as much as 0.86% to 145.43 per dollar before last trading about 0.3% stronger at 146.17. The Swiss franc, another traditional safe haven, gained 0.3% to 0/8592 per dollar.

The dollar-yen pair is also sensitive to fluctuations in long-term US Treasury yields, which have given back about half of their overnight rise to 3.977 percent and were last at 3.92 percent in Asian trading hours.

The dollar index, which measures the currency against the yen, the franc, the euro and three other major currencies, was slightly lower at 103.09, while the euro rose slightly to 1.0925 dollars.

Currencies, particularly the yen, have been shaky over the past week on bets on steady interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan and aggressive rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve, contributing to the dollar falling to 141.675 yen on Monday for the first time since the start of the year.

Weekly US unemployment figures later today could cause market movements after weak monthly employment figures on Friday heightened fears of an economic downturn in the US.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices continued to rise after data the previous day indicated a larger-than-expected decline in US crude oil inventories.

Brent crude futures rose 0.3% to $78.56 a barrel, after rising 2.4% on Wednesday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate oil gained 0.4% to $75.52, after rising 2.8% overnight.

(Reporting by Kevin Buckland; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)