LONDON - World stocks tumbled for the fifth straight day on Wednesday, while safe-haven gold rose back towards seven-year highs and US bond yields held near record lows.

Asian shares excluding Japan fell 1 percent while Tokyo lost 0.8 percent.

A pan-European equity index lost 1 percent and equity futures for Wall Street were down around 0.8 percent.

The economic growth worries are reflected in steep drop in bond yields - with 10-year US yields down 60 basis points since the start of the year.

Ten- and 30-year US Treasury yields teetered just off record lows and another safe-haven, German bonds also saw 10-year yields tumble to four-month lows below -0.5 percent.

The rate cut expectations weighed on the dollar while continued to pullback against the yen from recent 10-month high of 112.23 yen. It traded around 110 yen.

The greenback also came off an almost three-year high against the euro, reached on Feb 20 while it remained flat to a basket of currencies.

The dash for safety also boosted gold 1 percent to around US$1,650 per ounce, heading back towards seven-year highs of 1,688.66 hit on Monday.

Brent crude futures fell 1 percent to US$53.95 per barrel.