Asia shares wary on US inflation, Bitcoin struggles to steady
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Last Updated: May 24, 2021, 01:53 PM IST
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Synopsis
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.1% in slow trade. Japan’s Nikkei added 0.2% and Chinese blue chips 0.2%.
AP
Asian shares were mixed on Monday as investors awaited key U.S. inflation readings for guidance on monetary policy, while Bitcoin tried to steady after being hammered on news of China’s clampdown on mining and trading of cryptocurrencies.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.1% in slow trade. Japan’s Nikkei added 0.2% and Chinese blue chips 0.2%.
The rapid development of cryptocurrency and digital finance generally is “an area we cannot ignore,” Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said on Monday while pointing to volatility in technologies like bitcoin and their shortcomings as a substitute for traditional.
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FILE PHOTO: Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George addresses the National Association for Business Economics in Denver, Colorado, U.S. October 6, 2019. REUTERS/Ann Saphir
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Kansas City Federal Reserve President Esther George on Monday cautioned against a “rigid” approach to monetary policy in a post-pandemic era that may involve different inflation and employment dynamics than ones seen in the last few years and worked into the Fed’s current policy framework.
That new framework, emphasizing job generation and faith that the forces that kept inflation low in recent years will continue to do so, has led the Fed to pledge to continue buying $120 billion a month in bonds until the job market improves and to leave interest rates near zero for even longer even as prices begin to rise.
Bank holds to steady course as governor keeps eye on inflation Lesetja Kganyago warned that load- shedding poses risks toinvestment and jobs 23 May 2021 - 05:18 By Hilary Joffe
The Reserve Bank has started to talk about when it might start talking about normalising interest rates - but, though it warned on Thursday of upside risks to inflation, it kept rates unchanged as expected, with most economists still expecting them to remain on hold until next year.
And Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago signalled on Thursday that even were the Bank s monetary policy committee to start raising rates again, monetary policy would remain accommodative .