Sydney — Asian markets marked time on Thursday with two major centres — Japan and China — shut for holidays while the dollar held on to overnight gains after the US central bank poured cold water on rate cut expectations. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was off 0.1%, trading in a tight band. Australian shares slipped 0.7% while New Zealand was up 0.4% and South Korea’s Kospi index added 0.1%. E-mini futures for the S&P 500 were unchanged. Trading in Japan will resume on Tuesday while China will be back in action on Monday. Global equities markets have scaled new highs since the start of the year largely on expectations of easy monetary policies around the world while a positive tone on US-China trade negotiations has also aided sentiment. But analysts are now wondering whether this strong run can continue. “Coming into May, the search for the next catalyst becomes an obvious necessary condition to give an answer to the traditional question: is it time to s...
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