SYDNEY : Asian shares slipped on Monday as investors hunkered down for U.S. inflation and retail sales data that could jolt the outlook for interest rates globally, while tempering or accelerating the recent spike in bond yields.
In any case, it provided an extra excuse for caution and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 per cent, after losing 2.2 per cent last week. Median forecasts are for headline and core consumer prices to rise 0.4 per cent for the month, with sales rebounding by 1.6 per cent.
Bruce Kasman, head of economic analysis at JPMorgan, expects core CPI to rise 0.5 per cent and sales to jump 2.2 per cent, underlining the message of resilience from the bumper January payrolls report. Markets have already sharply raised the profile for future tightening by the Federal Reserve, with rates now seen peaking up around 5.15 per cent and cuts coming later and slower.
That shift helped stabilise the dollar, especially against the euro which slipped 1.1 per cent last week to hover at $1.0670, well away from its early February high of $1.0987.