Flat, fractionally higher from fridays close. The aussie dollar in focus today, a little weaker, . 76. Rva expected to keep it at 2 tomorrow, but increasing sentiment that rba has to cut. ,outh korea getting other way fractionally higher. Korean yuan down, but strengthening. Now, and5 online right this is the view. Futures had been pointing to a higher open, and now we are seeing a selloff. It is still strong yuan right there. Has finally got his hands on sharp. Chairman of foxconn technologies signed a deal for a controlling stake in sharp, saying he respects its innovation and leadership. Sharp shares surging in tokyo. Our tech reporter joins us right now. It has been a long, hard chase. Is it really over . Good morning. The money is literally in the bank. Transferred ¥100 billion to sharp on march 31, ending the chase. Finalizing the deal, a sale of ¥400 billion of new shares to give it full control. As the dust settles, the attention turns to the turnaround ahead. Angie aside from the challenges it seems thatou, sealing the deal might have been the easy part. Terry is fine at shaping a company and has a tough challenge ahead. The day the companies signed the deal is the day that sharp reversed its annual profit forecast to a ¥170 billion loss. Angie what can we expect from the two companies now . Investors want to hear what happens to the companys lcd business. Sharps technology is on the cutting edge of the market, but they have struggles with them then, which costs top spot as a supplier for apple. It is not clear what foxconn can do to fix that. There is still the question of what to do with sharps Consumer Electronics brand, solar operations, Office Equipment businesses. Angie ok. There live for us in tokyo. Sharp shares up 4 . Mitsubishis lending unit pushing ahead with plans to become the leading commercial bank by deposit. Doesew to president president is looking for acquisitions in the u. S. And opportunities to tap into asias middle class. See ander expect to impact from the pba negative pboj negative Interest Rates. With the current level of growth, theres not enough fulltime positions to go around in the u. S. Janet yellen sees more slack in the labor market than currently indicated by the unemployment rate. Recognizes, ihe think she does. Recognizes that those are not translating into economic growth. Even after a lackluster performance last month, Money Managers betting the gold still has room to run. Futures dipped from a 13 month high, hedge funds the most bullish since february of last year after gold posted its biggest quarterly advance in three decades, rising 17 . The dollars fall has lifted its appeal. The currency saw its biggest monthly loss since 2010. In newntinues to fall york after saudi arabia said it would only freeze production if iran and others followed suit. Crude has erased its gains for the year. Energy reporter joins us from singapore. With its first weekly decline since february on the comments from saudi arabia. This freeze deal has always becauseittle tenuous saudi arabia, iran, russia, these countries do not get along. Iran is just exiting Nuclear Sanctions from january, and its Oil Production rose to 3. 2 Million Barrels, the highest since sanctions were lifted, but less by a Million Barrels below presanctions level, and they want to get back to that tree sanctions level. Saudi arabia will not freeze unless iran will freeze. Freeze. L definitely not this puts the whole idea of the freeze into question. Angie where does that leave the oil market . Its a great question. The oil market is still oversupplied. We are two years into this price has notnd production fallen as much as it needs to to rebalance the market. Youre still seeing the u. S. Add supply week after week after week as they bring in imports, productions dont falloff. In the near future, if the market is massively oversupplied, which is why prices are down in the 30s still. Saudi arabia also planning to sell a stake in its state owned oil company. Is it preparing for the end of the oil age . It certainly seems like they are thinking about that. They are looking to sell a small state and saudi aramco, less than 5 , but trying to raise 2 billion for this investment fund, so instead of using the difference and oil services to pay for services, they can use dividends, a way to diversify their economy. I dont think the oil age is ending soon, but maybe they want to be prepared for it. Angie thank you so much for that. Shares are gaining half a percent after it reiterated its forecast for lower earnings in the second half compared to the first six months. Profit may be as little as 700 million u. S. Dollars, 9 below analyst estimates, still investors are buying into the stock, three quarters of 1 higher right now. Converty allow banks to one trillion yuan of bad loans into equity. Tom mackenzie joins us. How does this work . On theis comes back concerns we have seen, the gradual uptick in nonperforming loans, especially by state owned enterprises in china. The plan will see the equivalent of 154 billion converted from bad loans largely in the state owned enterprises into equities, so the banks take on that equity. Take threehase will years, and we are talking about some of the biggest banks in the chinese sector, China Development bank, the bank of china, icbc, and china merchants bank, but for the moment this is just a report, but we have had talk about this debtequities whop here it swap. Angie what are the concerns . Some of chinas banking , weve heard from the China Construction Bank chairman, china citic bank, saying effectively it might be turning bad debt into that equity. The state owned enterprises face a lack of demand overcapacity, a big focus on trying to trim those back and make them more competitive, so that is a key concern. Then there is the state support we are looking at, because some analysts say without big cash injections or easier capital rules, it will not help solve the problem in the long run. It is a shortterm fix. Angie it is a shortterm fix. There is a lot of simmering discontent on the social level, so i guess perhaps optics are important when it comes to salaries, right . Yes, absolutely, and the salaries of icbc, the largest bank in the world, and the s pay was 72 , the equivalent of 85,000, and we can compare that to the fund for pay factors for 27 million for j. P. Morgan. Angie entrylevel, google in turn intern. Tom their salaries are soaring, right . Its more like the head of a department at an innercity school. Morgans dwarfs j. P. Morgans jamies takehome pay. It is about the Chinese Government cutting back on inequality and showing there is some balance between leaders and employees when it comes to the pay scale. Angie tom mackenzie, thanks for that. Coming up next, what are the prospects of another fed rate hike this year . Our next guest says it might be sooner than later. That is after this short break. , it is 8 13 a. M. In hong kong these of the stories making headlines around the world. Murderpolice considering charges against people arrested in connection with the collapsed overpass. At least 26 People Killed in the disaster, and Officials Say building regulations had been ignored. 10 people detained and may face charges of culpable homicide. The project was years behind schedule. More debris potentially from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has washed up, said to be from the interior of an aircraft and spotted by hotel guests. Last july, debris washed up on reunion island, and Officials Say two other parts found in mozambique are from the plane. The plane fannish two years ago. Vanished two years ago. Brussels airport reopened after the terrorist attacks with a temporary check in area and tighten security. 800 passengers per hour, less than 20 of usual capacity. Many carriers are using other airports, while delta is suspending its service until next year because of weakening demand. The airport should return to full operations in july. Powered by over 2400 journalists and 150 bureaus around the world, this is bloomberg news. I am rosalind chin. Angie big events we are following for you, india out with its first monetary statement after the budget, Prime Minister modi stuck with his growth target. Most economists expecting a rate cut of 25 basis points to 6. 5 . The Central Bank Cut rates four times last year but has left them unchanged for the last two meetings. Some big names in banking gathering in the bahamas on thursday for the annual meeting of the Interamerican Development bank. Andg them, the pboc chief the Chilean Central Bank governor. Monetary policies will behind on the agenda, no doubt. Thursday, watch out in vietnam, a new Prime Minister there. The Current Deputy leader is expected to be voted into the top job by the national assembly. The person who failed in his bid to become the party chief at januarys congress. , this years Indian Premier League extravaganza, the ninth season of the tournament, and the first match between mumbai indians and the supergiants. In 2014, the brand of value was put at more than 2 billion. Lets check in on the markets state of play will. State of play. Lets talk about emerging markets, this rally that we have been seeing, a lot of people wondering does it have legs. Good morning. Yes, that is the big question, emerging markets reacting favorably to the dovish rhetoric by janet yellen, pulling back from hiking rates, leading to consolidation in the dollar and a rebound in Commodity Prices driven by oil, all things that would be headwinds starting to fade away, so the market has reacted to that. The other concern is the Growth Outlook for china. We question whether things have changed much. A chinese economy still struggling, a commodity price market that is oversupplied, and we still see the fed hiking rates, some more strength in the u. S. Dollar, and those headwinds are still there. Broadly, investors are attracted to this market because it is relatively cheap. At the same time, we look to see where their Earnings Growth is. Has not cometh through and a big way for a long time, and you have to look at the trigger to see what will change before you start investing, but we are watching closely. Angie once you jump in, is this a trade with an Expiration Date, and at what point will that signal the expiration of optimism in emerging markets . I think it is more and Expiration Date of more clarity. Anything about oil price stabilization, such as the freeze deal, now off the cards, would help, and then again what we saw last year was as soon as the fed hike rates, the markets did not like it. If we get over the point where rates, then thats when you will see people move back into emerging markets. They could be something we look at in the second half of this year, just as that uncertainty becomes removed, but it is about what is attractive in terms of values. There are parts of the emerging world that do look attractive, but other parts have problems, the chinese financials. Longterm consumer story is a little bit more expensive. , certainly abt critical part of the formula, but are we going to get clarification when we get fed minutes . Dont think you will hear anything new from the fed minutes. We heard janet yellen speak once since that meeting, more dovish than will be reflected in the minutes. The biggest problem for investors is that they have moved away from price stability, from full employment, to talking about international factors. Concerns aboutng the chinese economy, where the currency is heading, and political dimensions, u. S. , allions, brexit vote those things the fed does pauls on when they do high rate hike rates. ,hen we look at market prices those are far too low. At two pointn is 3 , the highest in the cycle, showing things are improving in the u. S. Economy and rates do need to move higher. But it be gradual, slow, does not mean it will not happen. I think markets are too focused on that at the moment. Angie what about the rba ahead of tomorrow . Similar situation with the rba, the biggest thing we think about when we consider the rba is the currency. It will cause a hindrance to the growth in the global economy, the austrian economy, but the difference is whether it is shortterm or persistent. The stronger aussie dollar creates a problem. If it is a sharp move on the pmi numbers, private credit improved in businesses, all that suggests the economy is Getting Better and the currency should be stronger. ,owever, when we look forward if we do see Commodity Prices weaken more because of those would sayls, all that that some of that pressure can unwind in the aussie dollar and the rba wont have to start hiking rates. If they do cut rates, it will be a second half of the year event. We have a budget out in may, the same day as the rba meeting. Anything that does happen is going to be in the second half of the year for the rba. Angie we will leave it there. Thank you so much for that. Next, the dollar index hovers near a ninemonth low even as wages increase in the u. S. Headlines coming up after the short break. Welcome back. The fx headlines. Expectations that u. S. Policymakers will proceed cautiously when it comes to raising the Interest Rate. Numbers came in stronger than expected, wages also strengthen. The model upside surprises yen holding near a twoweek high against the greenback. Dollar sterling seeing the most volatile three months since june , and a gauge of future pricing suggest more to calm. Down 3. 6 ,s accelerating that the client after the referendum date for britains membership to the eu, june 23. The sterling tumbled to its since 2014 after a report on manufacturing at its lowest in 2013. Three month historical volatility indicates it is climbing to its highest in june. The cost of buying options to currencyn brazils rose to the highest in two weeks. Whether lawmakers will vote to impeach the president. The increase in volatility icates the guest work gosh guesswork. That could potentially pave the way for a new government that could have a chance of pulling brazil out of recession. The brazil currency is the biggest this year. The highest among 16 major currencies. Lets take a look at how the scene is being set for the asian trading session. Japanese yen holding and strength against u. S. Dollar, close to a two week high, not much change from fridays session, but trading at that 111. 64 handle, weighing on equities and profits when it comes to exporters. Elsewhere, downside for the aussie dollar, rba decision tomorrow, including pressure to move to more easing. Has beene dollar strengthening, putting pressure on growth down under. Those are the stories driving your forex markets. Angie a busy week of Economic Data and the United States. We will hear from the Federal Reserve about the thinking behind the latest policy decisions. We have a preview from new york. The week ahead will seek u. S. Investors continue to focus on the latest Economic Data as well as the signals from the fed. One of the big events will be the release of the minutes from the recent midmarch meeting of the fed chair janet yellen and fellow policymakers. Investors hope to gain fresh insight into the policymakers thinking. We will be getting that on wednesday. We will also get a new round of economic reports. Economists surveyed say u. S. Service producers expanded at a stronger pace in march, the first increase in five months. They also forecast the u. S. Trade deficit was little changed after widening at the start of the year. On the political front, lots of action, democratic and republican primary voters going to the polls in wisconsin. The last major contest before the new york election on april 19. Monsanto, bed bath beyond, right egg, among the company set to report numbers. More after this break. Stay tuned. Angie it is a 30 a. M. In singapore. A. M. In singapore. Youre watching first up. Finally completed his four your pursuit of sharp. Sealedsharp president the 3. 5 billion deal, rounding off negotiations that at times were on the verge of collapse. Ofrp revealed liabilities 1. 5 billion last fiscal year. Oil has erased its gains for the year with saudi arabia saying it will only cap production if others follow support follow suit. Iran has rolled out a production cut. China may allow large banks to convert one trillion yuan of bad loans into equity. An unidentified executive from the China Development bank it quotes an unidentified executive from the China Development bank. Powered by over 2400 journalists and 150 bureaus around the world, this is bloomberg news. Trading getting under way right now. Here is the action in sydney, tokyo. Haidi quite a lot of diversions and what is a holiday trading session. Markets have been close for the holidays today, but take a look. Australian stocks and kiwi stocks, tracking those gains. Highs, then the decline in oil, weighing on the oil and utilities sectors, but overall modest upside. Up a quarter percent when it comes to kiwi stocks. With conservative losses, opening down with a plunger 4 . It has cut off those session lows, but we are seeing the impact of that stronger yen, a twoweek high against the dollar. Lets take a look at some of the movers we are tracking in terms of the markets that are trading. Taking a look at some of these ,asino stocks doing poorly macau gaming numbers coming through for march. We are back to double digit declines after seemingly hitting something of a recovery when it comes to februarys numbers. We are seeing declines as much as 5 when it comes to sands china. Angie thanks. Indian Power Generator has been granted three licenses to begin building its giant coal mine. The operation is expected to of coal11 billion tons over its lifetime and create thousands of jobs, but environmentalists are not too happy. Lets get over to paul allen in sydney. This is a project with a troubled history. There have been multiple hurdles to clear. Environmental, financial, and bureaucratic as well. The of them have to do with mines geography, located in a remote part of australia, well inland in queens land. Significant rail lines, 600 kilometers to get the call to port. Port. O that gives you some idea of how remote that area is. Dani is welcoming the news and has a clear aim of beginning in 2016. Angie given the trouble and expense of building this mine, how does it stack up in an era of cheap coal . That is the biggest hurdle of all, coal prices weakening off 2011 highs. A number of Financial Institutions have refused to back the project. The queens land treasury has called the mine unthinkable. Unn there is bankable. As i mentioned, there is the dredging at the port, that is close to the Great Barrier reef, and environmentalists have expressed their extreme the pleasure about that happening, so still plenty of hurdles for this mine to clear, carmichael says it was to go ahead in 2017. I guess we will have to wait and see. Angie a beautiful part of the world there. Thank you for that. Lets take a look at what else we are following. Heres tom mackenzie. To be closeair said to a deal for virgin america. Negotiations are at an advanced stage, but could be derailed by jetblue. Irgin would allow them to expand routes. Indian Tobacco Company idc has closed its factories in protest of new packaging rules. Asias secondbiggest tobacco it did noto because have time to implement new Health Warnings. And government are fighting over regulations which say Health Warnings must cover 85 of pack service. The central bank of singapore wants to give Financial Firms more room to expand experiment with new technology. It hopes to create an environment for experiment to fail safely and cheaply without major consequences. The authority said it will be up to management to assess risks in the new adoption of new technology. Traders are pricing in a rate cut in australia, even as growth outperforms most developed economies. Is falling u. S. Dollar giving the aussie dollar a lift, clouding growth prospects. The aussie dollar has surged 13 since january, when it was trading near a sevenyear low. Rbl policymakers all their monthly meeting tomorrow economists expecting no change. That was a look at some stories making headlines. I am tom mackenzie. Three years ago, the bank of japan launched its aggressive Stimulus Program to jolt the economy out of deflation and put it back on a path to growth. How much has the needle moves . David is standing by. When you take a measure of the success of abenomics, it has worked in outside the mandate of the boj, asset prices, stock market, but when you look at the real economy, the jury is still out. This is the yield curve of japan, yellow line tracks before abenomics, november 2012, and this is where the yield curve is now. It is much lower. They have been able to Lower Borrowing costs for government and corporates. Conventional economist will tell you that the lowering of the yield curve and flattening of the same does not exactly bode well. Here, 70 ically right of the yield curve is below zero at the moment. There is another story on the bloomberg and it shows you how this part, looking at negative rates, how it has decimated loan growth. Borrowing costs being lower, it doesnt mean demand is there to pick up these loans. Simple way of looking at borrowing costs. Second, lets have a look at gdp japan, theeen china, u. S. , and the eurozone. This tracks the growth or the expansion in the economy from late 2012, how big or small the economy has become. China is a court or bigger,urope not the most flattering smaller compared to 34 years back. Japan is roughly the same size on local currency nominal terms. 5 if youre being generous. It has been inconsistent, but that is where we are if you want to compared to preabenomics. Lastly, let me have a look at where we are is far as inflation is concerned. When thers ago, thats current boj governor came out and pledged to rid japan of this mindset. Its hard to measure the mindset because were talking about a generation of consumers that got used to prices falling. Of 2 , the boj target this line right here. Line is zero. Track it to the start of abenomics, right here. That is when abenomics started. The tail end of the economy being mired in deflation. It is a little artificial because thats when they jacked up the sales tax, so basically back down when you normalize that. This is where we are at the moment. The problem to be fair it has been the drop in oil prices. It doesnt do any favors for the boj, having to move the goalposts for inflation. The current timetable is to get here from here. Year. Y the middle of next area ifthe best case an you want to look at that best to Case Scenario if you want to look at that metric. Angie thanks for that, david. Coming up next, apple its problems in its latest attempt to crack the secondbiggest Smartphone Market. That is coming up next when first up returns. Kong a 43 and hong 840 3 a. M. In hong kong. These of the stories making headlines. A group of journalists saying and new data leak reveals World Leaders, politicians, and celebrities hiding money and offshore banks and shadow companies. It centers on a panamanian law firm, the top creator of shell companies, which denied illegal acts. The crimmins said it will protect and honor the dignity of president putin after the link showed 2 billion linked to his associates. Police and the maldives have used pepper spray to break up a protest by journalist who accuse the government of suppressing media freedom. 19 people were arrested in a demonstration against new laws that would criminalize defamation. The maldives became a multiparty democracy eight years ago, but critics accuse the president of eroding civil rights and liberties. Says it has tested a new antiaircraft missile system. State tv shows kim jong on watching kim jongun watching the launches. Officials said they detected a rocket launch, but it is not clear if it is linked to the north korean claims. South korea and japan said it will Work Together to prevent the north from advancing its weapons program. Powered by over 2400 journalists and 150 bureaus around the world, this is bloomberg news. I am rosalind chin. Apples latest bid to crack Indias Smartphone market meeting fierce resistance. The Company Wants to import and sell second fan iphones because its campaign has been hit by a tight regulations and the relative expense of its devices compared to income. What is apple trying to do here . Are trying to redouble their efforts to get into india. That markets strategic importance is increasing as u. S. And china slows. Apple is trying to make a bigger splash than it has previously. Xiao ming is getting inroads there, but apple is meeting fierce resistance. Why . Resistance,local some would say india has protectionist regulations for to keep apple out of the market. Biggest player because they have low and smart phones, where as the iphone is out of reach of many Indian Consumers. Trying tople is address this regulatory issue, plying for permission to open its first retail stores, and for a brand like apple. Stores, important for a brand like apple. The plans tobout sell secondhand iphones . Thats one way you can lower your price point to get to Indian Consumers. Angie a little insultingish . Will see how the Indian Consumer takes to it. Angie apple facing global challenges, india part of its strategy to overcome definite headwinds. Not just apple, samsung, all the other Major Players encountering the same problem. There are not as many advances in Smartphone Technology in the past to years or so, and people are not replacing their smartphones at the same rate, so howdy get past that . You look for new markets. So how do you get past that . You look for new markets. Angie the decision to focus on software and handsets has yet to bear fruits, shares plunging. Told us blackberry is working on a new midpriced phone that may turn the companys fortunes around. We are working on other devices, and we started with a end in the phone high phone, so we have to come up with a mid range phone to compete in the space. So were looking to do that also. The goal is tod sell 3 Million Units. Take a look at this chart. This shows what your breakeven is. The average selling price versus how many phones you expect to sell, so right around hair, 3 Million Units right around here, 3 Million Units. You have to sell that many more phones. That i believe people like the phone a lot. I still need to continue to focus on that market segment. It might have a crossover effect. It may help the higher in the phone as well. Phone as well. Carrier andm the moving down the price scale, was anything fundamentally you need to fix . We have to upgrade operating systems, which we are planning to do. Other than that, no major problems. We need to get the product out tier of thehe right customer base. Longerterm, your goal is to drive profitability with software. Have you had any conversations about selling your hardware business to find that your Software Business . As long as i can make money with the hardware business, we have a lot of knowhow, so as long as i can make money, i dont intend to sell the hardware business. YouSoftware Business, as pointed out, is a highgrowth business for us right now. It is, and mergers and acquisition, symington it remains on the table to expand that business, what areas and software our gaps you need to fill . All, its about a complete secure mobile communications platform, secure voice, text, data, messaging. One area where we see a lot of atential on security, we made smart decision at the beginning of the year to do that, to help companies and governments to monitor and analyze Cyber Security threats, detecting it, preventing it, so we are excited to do that. One of the major areas is the car industry. We supply a lot of Software Components for the connector cars. We have a brand that is the leader in the market, so that area, im going to try to add more investment in the next 12 months. Angie that was blackberry ceo john chen. Coming up, losing a lure in japan. A luer a quick check in markets around play around the region. Tokyo has erased all losses this morning. Pretty much flat on the session, fractionally higher as we watch that closely. In sydney, the australian equity market looks like this, half a percent higher, all of this ahead of the rba decision tomorrow, expected to leave rates unchanged at 2 . In seoul, south korea, the kospi fractionally lower. We will see some fluctuations today no doubt. Trading in 15ts minutes, futures pointing to a higher open. Welcome to the stock exchange. Lets check in on what our reporters are watching in asia. No bigink i won, surprise. 11 . Just a little bit. Double digit growth. 41 ,rst quarter profits up jacked up its fullyear target billion. ¥10. 8 do the math. 99 million. 11 gain, best day in one year for the stock. Lets go to hyundai. Operating profits expected to fall 19 year on year, missing estimates. Forecasters in a week for hyundai motors, down 2. 6 today. The news is not playing well. Im happy being in second place. Third place. Its a numbers game. My number is bigger than your number. He is still learning the rules of the stock exchange. Disneyoperators of tokyo saw a slight fall in visitor numbers last year. Not looking too bad for oriental land. On the horizon, the opening of ir he Shanghai Resort opening of the Shanghai Resort in june. Group. Of 12. 8, above the will consider that a trial run. We will consider that a trial run. Do you have something to clarify . Three children, two nephews and a niece, just to clarify. They wanted to go, but all the adults in the car were like. Its just a little bit of a white lie for us. That is toms debut there. Try again. That is the name of the game. That is it for the stock exchange, based on news events. That is it on first up. What you watching . Have the Saudi Arabian deputy crown prince saying the kingdom will freeze, but one other people on board. We will be discussing this. Foxconn, the deal might have been signed, 3. 5 billion on saturday, but a big turnaround future. It is monday the fourth of april. This is trending business. I am rishaad salamat. Taking you to singapore and tokyo this hour. Tear, foxconn taking over. Blow. Inc. Dealing a new the continuing challenge facing abenomics. Apples attempt to crack india has hit trouble. It wants to sell used iphones. Critics say that could open the door to electronic waste. ,ollow me on twitter rishaadtv. Se trendingbusiness we have a holiday, china and hong kong equities trading. Thailand, malaysia, and singapore coming online. Were doing ok so far in this early trading session. We are getting some weakness coming through from japan. Those exporters coming under pressure from the stronger yen, a two week high against the greenback. Elsewhere, strength coming through from sydney, up 6 10 of 1 . A few decliners among the energy producers, not unexpected. Overall, the Market Sentiment remains on the back of those exceptionally dovish comments from janet yellen. Despite the betterthanexpected manufacturing and jobs numbers, and wage growth. The expectation is the u. S. Will continue on that course, cautioned the name of the game. Stocks,e that in u. S. Fridays session beating 2016 highs. Is flat. The straight times opening up. Malaysia lower. Asias only net exporter feeling the pain as oil prices give back those gains after the saudi said we are not doing anything in terms of freezing production unless i and others do as well. That seems to be an unlikely scenario, so some bearish sentiment for oriole. The currency front, downside when it comes to the aussie dollar, retail sales coming up in half an hour, rba decision tomorrow. The rba governor seems to be coming under pressure to ease more, in particular in light of the strength we have seen come impacting negatively on the economy and competitiveness. , another session of 1 ,ngth, up by two tens of trading at 111. 47. Rishaad thanks. Prices, continued fall after saudi arabia said it would only freeze production if i ran and others followed suit. Our Bloomberg Energy reporter joins us from singapore. Of declines since february. Why did they spook the market so much . This upcoming producers meeting in april has been on shaky ground since it was announced. In february, saudi arabia and russia agreed to tentatively freeze production at january levels, but january levels were already records for them. Now saudi arabia is making it clear that they are only freezing production if iran freezes production. Iran has made it perfectly clear that they are just coming off sanctions weighing on their a economy for years. They are planning to get to presanction levels and will increase production by another 500,000 barrels a day. This makes everybody in the market wonder why are these producers even getting together this month. Rishaad saudi arabia planning steak and its state owned oil company. Worldsld create the egg is publicly traded oil company. What does this all mean . Biggest publicly traded oil company. What does this all mean . To selleyre going shares year or the year after, this would help them create a 2 trillion state owned of that will help them diversified saudi arabias economy. Right now they use or receipts to help pay for social services for their people. End of the oil age coming and wants to make sure there is a diverse economy left to run the place for his people afterwards. Expandhinking if you into petrochemicals and refining, that is a way to do that. Rishaad thank you very much indeed. Lets have a look at other stories. Perhaps all that glitters is not gold, and indeed what else is going on out there . Rosalind volatile markets and week growth may gold a top performer. Gain inest quarterly three decades, 17 . Money managers predict more to come, even after a lackluster performance in march. Hedge funds are the most bullish since january. The dollars fall has lessened golds appeal, the biggest loss since 2010. The dollars the klein is one of the factors causing decline is one of the factors causing a rate cut. Dollar is australian clouding the Growth Outlook. It has surged 13 since january. Rba policy makers hold their monthly meeting tomorrow and economists are expecting no change. Negativeboj governors rate policy has not been enough to convince businesses that price gains will hold. Japanese companies have cut their forecasts for inflation. In a year from now, inflation is expected to be 0. 8 . Right, having a look at shark shares, surging sharp shares, now surging. Terry gou are got his hands on the prize. A controlling stake in sharp, saying he respected its leadership. What are you making of this . It took him four years to get here. This is the next 30 years for the company. Has not just bought the lcd business. He has home appliances, components is, a lot going on there. He will have to do a lot of work to turn things around. Rishaad exactly, this is a company that faces so many other companies from japan in the same space. There is so much competition. ,heyre phasing toshiba, sony and a lot of chinese companies. Rishaad and south koreans. Competitor,s a big so they will not sit still at all. Being able to turn this around will be tough. Rishaad he has talked about this company respecting its independence, but at the end of the day he owns a 66 of it now. That is definitely a problem. We know he will want to change executives, shake up the management, but he also has handcuffs on him. The deal stipulated he cant sell parts off or make major changes. He cant cut staff, so he is handcuffed in many ways. He can change out the management ,tself, perhaps the structure getting people more profit oriented. He has problems he will have to face, and management will be one of them. Rishaad thank you for that. Looking ahead, a massive information leak in panama could have major consequences for some of the prominent people around the world. Will look at that 25 minutes now. Next, a rate cut in australia . Do stay with us. Rishaad i look at asia pacific equities a look at asia pacific equities, newfound caution reverberating, and oil giving up its gains. I want to get your view. Youre saying this is a disconnect between data and market reaction. What are you talking about . What we are seeing around the globe is different markets and Asset Classes reacting differently to the data coming out. After that job rate in the states, a rally, but a selloff in the dollar. U. S. , a surprise on the upside, but pressure on industrial commodities. That week dollars should be supported. Fall in Energy Markets is energy specific, but the markets need to resolve the fact that in response to data manufacturing and jobs data, were seeing eye weaker u. S. Dollar and pressure on commodities, and yet rallies and equities. I dont think these three things are compatible, and we could see a rationalization of these moves during the trading week. Rishaad what is the trigger to create a connect . Possibly some of the data we see this week. The most important is the trade balances and the fx balances out of china. Coming on u. S. Trade come expecting imports and exports to increase. Down about calming the possibility of a yuan the violation, and perhaps ringing it all together. Perhaps we will see a kickoff in volatility this week. , weif markets remain calm might see them moving together in sentiment terms. Rishaad what is the feeling amongst your clients . Are they feeling more optimistic than they were a month and a half ago . I wouldnt say optimistic, but less just a mistake is probably a better way to put it. They tend to be skeptical and cynical, that cynicism remains about the prospects for the global economy, but theyre less concerned about the imminence of disaster. Were seeing them back away from gold positions and a move into more risk assets. There is no enthusiasm at this unwinding there is a of the negative thats established in the first quarter. Rishaad with that in mind, does that mean the rba is done with further Interest Rate cuts . It certainly seems to be the case. Messaging is quite clear, data dependent, taking a wait and see approach. Some analysts pointing to a stronger Australian Dollar as a potential trigger for a rate cut , but unlikely given the rhetoric we have heard that that will be the case. We expect to hear more about the aussie dollar tomorrow, and the focus on Commodity Prices and the potential for pullbacks in the shortterm. An Interest Rate move doesnt seem to be a possibility. It would be a major surprise to the market. Rishaad we also have the fed talking about rates, and the messages coming out from individual members are muddying the waters. What is your view . Is threadinge fed a fine line. There was a need for the fed to move closer to the market, while at the same time maintaining its line. We saw the fed move closer to the market, then others maintaining their hawkish position. They are trying to get the market to meet them somewhere in the middle. Down toe comes inflation, 12 months of upward pressure on inflation. It is now above the target rate. If we dont see a softening, it is likely the feds hands will be tied june. What they are seeing in this mixed messaging is an attempt to prepare the market for that possibility. We are likely to hear more about data dependence from the fed. Rishaad great to see you. Mike mccarthy from cmc there. I look at the stories making headlines around the world. A group of investigative journalists say a new data andue shows politicians offshoreding money and banks. Denies thenjimossack fonseca claims. The kremlin said they would support president putins honor and dignity. The iceland Prime Minister denies hiding assets. Parts of the malaysian aircraft. In murray thi d the plane vanished two years ago. After last months terrorist attacks, Brussels Airport well have tighten security checks and security. Working at 20 of the usual capacity. Many other carriers are using other airports. Delta is suspending its brussel service because of declining demand. Expected tois return to operations by early july. Powered by over 2400 journalists and 150 bureaus around the world, this is bloomberg news. Right, apple on hold in india. Local phone makers try to head off its latest attempt to crack the market. Rishaad the indian Power Generator adani has been granted licenses to push ahead on its mine, but environmentalists are far from happy here. There are 200 conditions attached to this program. Has overcome many challenges, and overcame another one when it got three licenses issued from queens land. Cost 16ct will billion. The issues are related to its location. It will require a rail line of 600 kilometers, and once the l gets to the kos, the port will need dredging. It is likely to generate 5000 jobs. , they welcomed the news and are aiming to convince tier two approvals. Rishaad theres been a huge amount of trouble, not to mention the expense of it, so how does it stack up when we have so much cheap coal out there . Paul the question always comes up when a question of a coal mine is introduced. It is low today, but could be higher down the track. This is a longterm project. 43 per ton, the lowest in eight years. A number of banks in australia have said they wont the backing it, and even the queensland treasury has called the project ankable as well. There is the retching of the port, which is close to the Great Barrier reef. One environmental lobbying group has called this the dumbest, most dangerous Economic Development in australia. We will have to see if mining goes ahead as planned in 2017. Did to apples latest crack indias smart phone market is meeting fierce resistance. The Company Wants to sell secondhand iphones. They had been hit by the relative expense of its devices. At what apple is trying to do here. Make a bigger to splash in a market that is becoming increasingly important for apple and other smartphone makers. With the u. S. And china slowing and india now the second World Largest market by users, apple feels it needs to find a new growth engine. Rishaad we just heard about the relative income to the price of the iphone, is that what is holding back the company . , incomes are rising in india the affluent middleclass is expanding. A lot ofhere are regulations that apple has to penetrate, and some would say they are protectionist regulations they keep foreign firms like apple at bay. Rishaad ok, well, its not just india that is a challenge. It is the whole world right now. This is the first time we will see declining iphone sales this year. More than half its profit comes from the iphone. Replacing not just their smart phones at the same place they used to a couple of years ago. There are not many revolutionary advances in hardware, battery life keeps improving, but there is nothing really new for the Smartphone Market now. Rishaad thank you indeed with the latest on apples trials and tribulations in india. Up, chinese banks turn to a controversial method to deal with bad loans. Details coming your way. A look at our top stories, asiapacific stocks starting the new week on the rise chest rise, just. That is despite the positive data on the u. S. Economy, particular that nonfarms report on jobs on friday, stronger than anticipated. Regional banks rebounding from their worst day since mid february. Yen holding era twoweek high. Oil is raising its gains, saudi arabia it saying it will only cap production if others follow suit. Iran will attend a meeting latest that later this month, but has rolled out a production freeze. Risingstar performer, 17 , biggest quarterly gain in three decades, and Money Managers predict more to come even after a lackluster march. Hedge funds are the most bullish since january last year. Looking to see if we have data , februarytralia retail sales unchanged month on month. We were looking for a blowout. , whatnths of 1 , again economists had been estimating. Approvalsctor home fell 1. 2 month on month. We are seeing a reaction, a downward reaction for the aussie dollar, retail Sales Numbers missing the mark. The aussie dollar extending losses down 3 10 of 1 . You can see that is where the data came out, the aussie dollar taking another leg down. , doingn on the markets quite well despite declines in oil overnight. They are dragging on the Energy Stocks in sydney somewhat, but some gains across consumer and tech stocks. The u. S. Markets extending 2016 highs on friday f. It is down to the dovish comments out of janet yellen,. He overriding factor all of this adding up to the expectation we will see a slower , cautiousdriven, datadriven, approach to fed tightening. The nikkei 225 has climbed out of the red, gaining 2 10 of 1 . The yen way there, strengthening to a twoweek high. That dollar weakness holding onto its losses so far in the asian session, weighing on japanese exporters. Analyst saying if the yen continues to stay at this level of strength, we will see that play out in a negative way when it comes to japan earnings for the next quarter. Singapore andt of also kiwi stocks up by 3 10 of 1 . Rishaad thank you very much indeed. China managed to convert 150 billion of bad loans and equity, according to a report from a business data provider weekly. Here is tom mackenzie. The debt levels of state owned enterprises have been at the top of the political agenda, and now we have some detail about how the government might tackle that. They are allowing banks in china to convert around 1,000,000,000,001 of bad loans into equity, the first phase of a threeyear plan according to this publication, and it involves some of the biggest banks in china. That includes icbc, merchants loaned levels are around 1. 7 of total assets in china. Rishaad theres a lot of concern surrounding this plan. We had one chief executive of one of the state owned bank saying why do i went to turn bad debt into bad equity. Guys rd from these rishaad and fairly candid. It shows the level of concern. The chinas construction think chairman did not one to turn bad debt into bad equity. There are questions about how the government is going to facilitate this process, whether or not they will allow the easing of credit, an injection of cash into the banks as well, and whether there are questions. In 1999, there was a real out of chinas banks funded either tax power. Taxpayer. Yes, bit of skepticism. Headlines some time to weep for bankers. The chairman of icbc, the Worlds Largest bank by assets, in 2015pay cut by 70 to 85,000. Rishaad thats quite something. Considering how much some of these guys are getting paid in other banks. Of jamie dimons pay package for last year. Rishaad im assuming without bonus. I think thats the full package for jamie dimon. Thank you very much that. Tom mackenzie. Reporting,been documents which have led to this paper trail involving some of the richest people in the world. It is leaked from a panama law showingsack fonseca World Leaders and celebrities trying to keep their finances under wraps. I have been looking at what is trending on social media. So this refers to the league of more than 11 million files from this panamanian law firm, one of the biggest leaks ever. People have been reacting to it. One person saying and a mop papers leak probably wont apply for asylum in russia, referring to the information that came out from the papers that there were at least 2 billion of transactions linked to vladimir putin, people with ties to vladimir putin. Referring back to the nsa whistleblower seeking refuge in russia while trying to get asylum. Rishaad what kind of numbers are we talking about here . 2 billion dollars for the transactions related to vladimir putin. There are implications for other World Leaders, including the icelandic Prime Minister. To provea papers seem we live in a global oligarchy where democracy and the tatars entertainment for the wealthy. The new papers have made me lose faith in humanity, not a surprise there. However, one person saying if you did not think world corruption did not exist, you are not just smart. I do think people got super rich. These are the sentiments being expressed on twitter. People not that surprised at the level of corruption. Other saying that is a sad fact of the world today. Rishaad thank you indeed. Move to the central bank of japan, aggressive stimulus designed to get inflation in the mix and get the japanese economy going, this is all coming from kuroda. David has had a look at whether we have seen the needle move. David it hasnt. It depends on what metric you look at. Youar as borrowing costs would be surprised if they did not move the needle on this one. 800 billion u. S. Dollars annually of assets purchased. The first chart i have, very simple one, that is year yield curve. The yellow one is the yield curve before abenomics. The green one is the yield curve now. So they have brought down borrowing costs for the government and for corporates. Corporates. At these levels, is there demand for these loans . We heard from a finance minister a few weeks back basically saying that japan does not need more money. Levels, we have 70 of the yield curve below zero, negative rates there. Banks basically have to pay to lend money out. There is another story on the terminal that talks about this phenomenon. Growth nominal on a local currency basis, maybe you could argue they move the needle on this one, but not quite enough to outgrow the growing debt pile. China, the u. S. , japan, and the 5 bigger sense shinzo abe took power. China is a quarter bigger. That is gdp. Inflation, where are we . Well, we are halfway there to the 2 inflation target if you strip out energy. If you look at core inflation, basically back to zero and 12 inflation. T to 2 this shows you Wage Inflation and the growth in profits, and i think for us to get into this Virtuous Cycle as part of that story, the second one on your right side will have to move 9 average Profit Growth for the topix index. Rishaad thank you, david. Mitsubishi,o looking at further acquisitions active in recent years. Also the asiapacific, a new expansion drive. Lets head over to tokyo. New president of japans biggest bank have planned . Mitsubishi hado a new president start last friday. He has been a longtime candidate for president. With him last week about his plans, and he was quite explicit in that the bank indefinitely interested acquisition opportunities, and pointed out asia and the u. S. As being the two key regions for that. Mitsubishi in the United States owns union bank, californiabased region bank, 115 billion worth of deposits. They have been saying they would like to break u. S. ,he top tier in the important for the group. We calculated they will need to increase their deposit base by 67 billion. You can look at the potential regional banks on that, but geographically a bank on the west coast would work in terms of cutting costs, the branch network, and banks elsewhere would increase the footprint. To is its move down to the fact that the banks brings they need to those profits back, and how much of that is down to the negative Interest Rate policy at the moment instituted by the boj . Negative Interest Rates hurt the banks. They are squeezing the margins on loans, making it harder to make money on the core business of lending in japan. One of the options available is expanding overseas. While potential targets are looking expensive, they are still keen on the nonorganic approach to getting a head start and buying some time in terms of the extension. Negative Interest Rates only came in in february, so they have not started to kick in and damage profits too much, so this year we will not see too much impact. The impact next year will be significant. Pretty strong words from the head of a top bank. Rishaad thank you very much indeed. Coming up, chinese manufacturing showing signs of improvement in march, but our next guest remains cautious. We are back in two vang with a senior asia strategist. We are back in two bank with a senior agent strategist. These are the stories making headlines. Police in the maldives have use pepper spray to break up protesters who accuse the government of suppressing media freedom. Were arrested and demonstrations that would criminalize defamation. Andics accuse the president the government of eroding civil rights liberties. Indian police are considering murder charges against people arrested in connection with the collapsed overpass. 26 people were killed in the disaster, and Officials Say building regulations have been ignored. Andeople have been detained may face charges of culpable homicide. The roadway that was being built was years behind schedule. North korea says it has tested a new antiaircraft missile system. Jongun shows kim watching the launches, but it is not possible to say when or where the pictures were taken. Officials said they detected a rocket launch, but it is not clear if it is linked to the north korean claims. South korea and japan say they will Work Together to prevent the north from advancing its weapons program. Powered by over 2400 journalists and 150 bureaus around the world, this is bloomberg news. I am tom mackenzie. A big week when it comes to Interest Rate decisions. Expectation of a move at the reserve bank of australia, but lower inflation and sluggish growth point to the chances perhaps of a cut in india. Lets have a look at all this. Workout . Any cut work out. There is a lot of pressure coming from the Political Class to do something about the cost of borrowing in india, but it seems they are reluctant to be heeding the advice out of the office of air and gently. Of the indian leader. They have to strike a balance. We are probably in a bit of a sweet spot where you have growth environments stabilizing, and at the same time the fed expectation of a rate hike being pushed back, making it easy for , and theanks to ease recent budget does provide room for india to cut rates. There is no guarantee this will change. We still expect that asia may growthversions, sluggish , at the same time a u. S. Fed rate hike is put back into play, at which time you will see capital outflows. Any cuts have to be cautious and measured. When we have a look at Interest Rates, everybody looks at the Federal Reserve. It did look like a rate hike later this year, but it does look like it could happen this month, but your thesis is quite different. Youre saying follow china, this year at least. Yes, thats right. Even when the fed expectation is put into play and there is pressure on the currency, most Asian Central banks would choose to follow china, meaning keeping their rates lower for longer instead of hiking and following the u. S. It comes down to the balance of risk. The risks of not following the u. S. , keeping rates low, is lower than two years ago, because many economists have asia, theat india, Interest Rate is much higher than before. At the same time, the risk of not following china or raising Interest Rates by following the u. S. Is quite dangerous because of how sluggish the economy is. Into al be raising slowdown given how expose you are to the chinese economy this time around. Rishaad that is just it. This is a policy usage of should be followed by the emerging markets, and will india be one of those you are referring to . Yes. Indias sluggish growth has less to do with china. India could potentially benefit from lower Commodity Prices. One, the potential ramifications from the middle east slowdown on trade and capital flows. ,lso, from the domestic front where the government needs to balance between the need to consolidate fiscal policy, but at the same time try to support limiting thehat is way they can support and boost growth in the short run. There are growth issues there as well. That is why the Monetary Policy needs to be on the easy side. They cannot go to aggressive on that front. About the slowdown in china, the easing of Monetary Policy there . Which of the countries in this part of the world have been most affected by that and what do they need to do . Countries the most affected of the north asian economies, korea, taiwan, hong kong. It is the more export oriented ones like malaysia and singapore. These countries can keep their Monetary Policy looser for longer. They probably have to tolerate currency weakness, which may not the a bad thing, because if china were to have depreciation these exchange rate, if countries do not follow suit or let their currency appreciate, then they will be hit not only china, butorts from also the fact they might lose a Competitive Edge to chinese exports, bearing in mind that china has moved up the value chain a lot and are in the same product space shared by countries like taiwan and korea. Thank you. You will be at the Credit Suisse conference in hong kong. The former greek Prime Minister and Asia Infrastructure Bank had, head, and interview tomorrow on bloomberg. Mostg up, one of the important chinese artifacts goes under the hammer this week. We have a sneak preview. 17thcenturyave a Imperial Seal coming up for auction in hong kong. Seal of thethe mandate of heaven is expected to andt around 6 million, bloomberg spoke about this rare piece of history. This is the largest seal that thefirst grand ruler of qing dynasty had passed to himself. It means serve your subjects. The market for historical works of art, objects like this one, that market has only taken off in the last 15 years since the mainland chinese have stormed into our market. This one isn see, the largest of them all. The impression is an absolute match. The last time the seal was in contact with paper was 1781. What is it worth . I dont know. Becausery hard to say means i ambol which the legitimate ruler of china. Here power in an object. There is still that thinking that is a grained is ingrained in china that is linked to a person of wealth and power. Anyone witherest the means to buy it. Right, looking at the next hour, oil on a slippery slope. Where do we go next . Trending business. I am reshot salaa rishaad going to singapore, manila, and tokyo is our. This hour. Discussing ae been plan to reduce Oil Production. That highrollers gambled with 30 million of the cash in the casino. The money trail has since gone cold. Hong kong completes its rescue deal, and can move ahead without fear. Twitter. On without further review, let us look at the trading day. Not treating because of a public holiday, but for others, it is business as usual. This is what we are seeing, did we have got japanese markets during in on the arquette. A stronger win on the exporters. Strong gains are coming through australia, 9 10 of 1