SINGAPORE : Asian shares edged lower on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stuck to his recent hawkish tone on the bank's likely interest rate path, while the focus switches to the Bank of England' policy decision later in the day.
Last week, the Fed held its benchmark interest rate steady at between 5 per cent and 5.25 per cent, but officials projected rates will have to increase another half percentage point by year's end to tame inflation. Kevin Cummins, chief economist at NatWest Markets, said Powell's testimony didn't shed any new light on the Fed's thinking or the likely future path for monetary policy, adding that his tone was very similar to last week's press conference and mostly leaned hawkish.
The comments highlight the growing debate at the central bank over when and if the central bank should hike further. Economists polled by Reuters last week were unanimous that the BoE would raise rates to 4.75 per cent, their highest since 2008, from 4.5 per cent, but the inflation data pushed financial markets to price in a nearly 50 per cent chance that the BoE would opt for a bigger move and raise rates by half a percentage point.
Apart from BoE, markets will also be awaiting a policy decision from Turkey's central bank, with a policy pivot and a sharp rate increase widely expected.
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