Surprise Up Sleeve Drives Singapore to Sydney Policy Pauses

Asia-Pacific policy makers’ decisions to hold fire in the past two weeks could indicate a desire to retain an element of surprise in actions to maximize the impact of any move.

Singapore, India and Australia have joined Canada in wrong-footing markets by pausing after unexpected easings earlier in the year. Uncertainty over the timing of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate increase and diminishing policy firepower among commodity exporters may help explain the pause, according to Valentin Marinov of Credit Agricole SA.