NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks lost ground on Wednesday as bond yields continued to spike. The technology sector again wore the brunt of the selling.

"There is a definite headwind for equity markets if yields go above the 1.5% level with most investors keeping an eye on the pace of yield growth," Michael Stritch, chief investment officer at BMO Wealth Management told Reuters Thomson Wednesday.

The Nasdaq Composite shed 361.04 points or 2.70 percent Wednesday, to close at 12,997.75.

The Dow Jones gave up 121.43 points or 0.39 percent to 31,270.09.

The Standard and Poor's 500 eased 50.56 points or 1.31 percent to 3,819.73.

The U.S. dollar was mixed. It rose a tad against the euro to 1.2072. The British pound edged higher to 1.3951. The Japanese yen was a fraction higher at 106.88. The Swiss franc fell to 0.9188.

The Canadian dollar was unchanged at 1.2131. The Australian dollar eased to 0.7793. The New Zealand dollar weakened to 0.7261.

On overseas equity markets, the FTSE 100 in London strengthened by 0.93 percent. The Dax in Germany rose 0.29 percent. In Paris, France the CAC 40 added 0.35 percent.

On Asian markets, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was the stand-out with the key index rising 784.56 points or 2.70 percent to 29,880.42.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 climbed 150.93 points or 0.51 percent to 29,559.10.

China's Shanghai Composite rose 68.31 points or 1.95 percent to 3,576.90.

The Australian market was helped by strong GDP data being recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020. The economy grew at a rate of 3.10 percent, well ahead of projections of 2.50 percent.

"The big picture is that while the initial recovery through the first half of 2021 may still be subject to air-pockets and jobs vulnerabilities linger... Australia is unambiguously on a surer path to sustained recovery," Reuters Thomson quoted Mizuho analysts as saying in a note.

The Australian All Ordinaries stacked on 58.00 points or 0.83 percent to close at 7,067.90.