Sydney — The dollar was on the defensive on Thursday after suffering its worst drubbing in five months, while bonds celebrated a comeback on speculation the Federal Reserve might not tighten US monetary policy as aggressively as previously thought. Moves in Asian share markets were mostly minor with Japanese US markets closed for holidays. Spread betters pointed to a slightly softer opening for the major European bourses. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eked out a fresh 10-year peak with a rise of 0.15%, as did Hong Kong’s main index. The dollar’s rout came after minutes of the Fed’s last meeting showed "many participants" were concerned inflation would stay below the bank’s 2% target for longer than expected. That echoed comments from Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen that she was uncertain about the outlook for inflation and led markets to pare back pricing for more hikes next year. While a move in December to between 1.25% and 1.5% is still almost fully price...
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