SINGAPORE- Several Asian share benchmarks fell on Thursday as markets digested the implications of policymakers in major economies preferring to take a patient approach to monetary easing amid sticky inflation.
Geopolitical tensions were also at the forefront of investors’ minds as China’s military started two days of “punishment” drills held in five areas around Taiwan just days after new Taiwan President Lai Ching-te took office.
That sent Chinese blue chips falling 0.9 percent , while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index similarly slid 1.4 percent .
In the broader market, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.26 percent , while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index lost 0.5 percent , also hurt by a pullback in some commodity prices.
More hawkish-than-expected minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting, a hot UK inflation print and a sobering assessment of New Zealand’s inflation problems from the country’s central bank have caused investors to pare their bets of the pace and scale of global rate cuts expected this year.
“One thing that’s interesting from the last 24 hours that can be taken away is still the uncertainty from central banks about policy settings and at what levels interest rates have to be at, and where they need to potentially stay at, in order to tame inflation,” said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.
“That’s causing uncertainty from a policy point of view, but it’s obviously also causing uncertainty from a market point of view.”
US stock futures meanwhile received a boost after AI darling Nvidia forecast quarterly revenue above estimates after the bell on Wednesday, which sent its shares jumping 5.9 percent in extended trade.
S&P 500 futures tacked on 0.6 percent , while Nasdaq futures surged 0.95 percent .
EUROSTOXX 50 futures inched up 0.38 percent .
Taiwan’s tech-heavy stock benchmark similarly scaled a record peak and last traded 0.25 percent higher, while the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan IT stocks index touched an over two-year high.
