South Korea skips rate rise

South Korea's central bank surprised markets on Friday by keeping interest rates on hold at 2.75 percent, indicating it wanted more time to assess the impact of a rate rise in January before moving again to tackle inflation. Most analysts had expected a rare back-to-back rate increase after inflation rose more than expected in January to stand above the central bank's target.
A Reuters poll shows they now expect the authority to raise rates in March. Still, the head of the Bank of Korea said not all board members had voted to keep the policy rate unchanged, another factor underlining market expectations that rates will rise again soon.