Asia stocks weaken on the patient approach to rate cuts
monetary easing amid sticky inflation.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.57%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was one of the biggest decliners, slumping 0.8%, also hurt by a pullback in some commodity prices.
Geopolitical tensions also kept investors nervous 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. But Taiwan's stock market was not too fussed and was last up 0.3%.
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.»
U.S. futures meanwhile received an early boost after AI darling Nvidia forecast quarterly revenue above estimates after the bell on Wednesday, which sent its shares jumping 5.9% in extended trade. [.N]
S&P 500 futures tacked on 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures
