NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve should slow its massive asset purchase program, a senior Fed official said on Thursday, saying he wasn't sure how much the central bank's easy policy was helping the struggling labor market. "I'd like to stop but I would particularly like to see us begin to slow the pace down, gradually ease our way out of this if we possibly can," Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said on Bloomberg television, answering a question about an exit from the Fed's easing.

By Kevin Yao and Xiaoyi Shao BEIJING (Reuters) - China's annual consumer inflation accelerated more than expected in April while factory prices fell for a 14th consecutive month, highlighting the dilemma facing the central bank as it balances support for the economy against the threat of rising prices. With global growth sputtering, China's central bank has limited room to move, unlike counterparts in South Korea and Australia which both made surprise rate cuts this week.

Japan's foreign exchange reserves rose $3.61 billion to $1,257.96 billion at the end of April from a month earlier, up for the first time in seven months, the Finance Ministry said Thursday. The reserves gained due in part to the appreciation of the euro versus the U.S. dollar, which led to higher values of its holdings of euro-denominated assets, and to an increase in interest incomes from bonds the Japanese government owns, a ministry official said.

By Suvashree Dey Choudhury and Tony Munroe MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points on Friday for the third time since January, as expected, as growth slows and inflation ebbs, but said there is little room to ease monetary policy further, disappointing markets. The Reserve Bank of India trimmed the repo rate to 7.25 percent, its lowest since May 2011, and kept the cash reserve ratio (CRR) for banks unchanged at 4 percent, also in line with expectations.