SINGAPORE - Several key Asian share benchmarks fell on Thursday as markets digested the implications of policymakers in major economies preferring to take patient approach to monetary easing amid sticky inflation.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.
"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.
Data on Wednesday showed inflation in Britain eased less than expected and a key core measure of prices barely dropped, prompting investors to pull bets on a Bank of England rate cut next month. "There are still 'hard yards' to be done to bring annual CPI inflation down to the 2% target midpoint in a timely and sustainable manner, and thus monetary policy easing remains unlikely this year," said Kelly Eckhold, Westpac chief economist for New Zealand.