Asian shares stumble on growth worries as central banks tighten

Asian shares stumble on growth worries as central banks tighten

"I don't think the global economy is at the risk of a slowdown, I think we are slowing down. And for that reason, the potential for good investments right now is predominately on the short side," Barbara Ann Bernard, CIO of Wincrest Capital, a global long/short equity strategy hedge fund, told the Reuters Global Markets Forum.

South Korea's central bank on Thursday raised interest rates for a second consecutive meeting as it grapples with consumer inflation at 13-year highs.

All participants at the Fed's May 3-4 meeting supported a half-percentage-point rate increase - the first of that size in more than 20 years - and "most participants" judged that further hikes of that magnitude would "likely be appropriate" at the Fed's policy meetings in June and July, according to minutes from the meeting

The minutes reflected agreement among policymakers on the strength of the U.S. economy, tightness of the labour market and high inflation, with global supply problems, the Ukraine war, and continued coronavirus lockdowns in China skewing inflationary risks "to the upside".

Lingering investor concern over those factors dragged MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan down 0.54% after trading higher early in the morning.

Chinese blue-chips fell 1.11% despite another drop in