Quiet in the markets with the u. S. Celebrating president s day on monday. Overall, global stocks were mostly higher. It looks like we are waiting for direction. Perhaps we could get it with the fed minutes on wednesday. Live. Eting is lets look at how things are in the asiapacific. Slow going with new zealand stocks down about. 1 . The kiwi dollar unchanged. 80 and beyond is the call from Deutsche Bank sac the resurgence in exports. That is ahead of the rba minutes out in the next hour. Stocks slow going at the stock of the open. The dollar yen has been going sideways. 113. E the dollar yen above back above 120. We do see weakness in yen. It could be a boost for stocks. Lets get to our top story in asia this morning. The austrian Prime Minister has told bloomberg he will maintain a Good Relationship with the u. S. Despite the reported rift with President Trump. Speaking exclusively, he spoke against protectionism and said his government was committed to investing in new infrastructure. Great to see you. I feel like you covered a lot of ground with the Prime Minister. Lets start with the geopolitical matters and what he had to say about donald trump. Haidi we did cover a lot. In terms of what was always going to be the highlight was what he had to say about the new u. S. President , i asked how he felt about him, what kind of man he felt he was and if they had anything in common. He was very cautious. He says he has a big as an alley and a very big job coming into the presidency. They are not changing the way they deal with the white house even though this is a brave new world we are talking about where you have a president that deals in diplomacy via social media. There is a lot of uncertainty and inconsistency when it comes to white house policy and what administration is doing. He said we give very frank advice and frank exchanges with our american counterparts. We dont lecture them through the media. A few days ago, the Prime Minister did give a warning to the war he has waged against the media is a waste of time because it is part of the job, saying a politician complaining about the media is like a sailor complaining about the sea. Lets take a listen to what he had to say about his u. S. Counterpart. It is vital that we maintain the drive towards more open markets and free trade. Trade means jobs. Australia is a trading nation. Our future depends on not simply selling things to 24 million australians, but selling them to the whole world. Year,aid at the g20 last protectionism is not a ladder to get you out of the low growth trap. It is a shovel to dig it much deeper. He stuck a strong tone about the importance of free trade and open trade. Antitradegainst the populist sentiment we have seen spike interims America First in trumps America First policy. In a stroll you, there are some parts in australia, there are parts of the government that would like to see less Foreign Investment. I did ask about that. He said every country has these regulations and rules when it comes to pursuing the national interest. They do that consistently. But we are open for business. He spoke strongly about pushing the agenda when it comes to trade in australias economy being open to deals from elsewhere. He said the t. P. P. Is still very much on the table. Yvonne very much on the table. I like the line about trump, Big Personality with a big job. Talking about the economy in australia, he was cautious. Jason scott was talking about how engaging he was when it comes to Infrastructure Spending. He was quite aggressive in talking about the plans he has put forward while trying to bring the budget back in to surplus. Politicalis a very balancing act for him because it would not be popular pushing back getting the balanced budget to come to fruition. They did say we have the i. M. F. , we have the reserve bank saying given the low borrowing environment australia should be borrowing more to Fund Infrastructure investment. That will boost productivity. It will create jobs. That will help safeguard australias aaa rating which has been in danger. There have been warnings from s they could be downgraded if we dont see a balanced budget. He said australia is to Infrastructure Projects to create growth. They want to invest in good infrastructure and the i. M. F. Is right to point it out that it is a very important driver of growth. He did also say they are focused on bringing the budget back into balance. That is their goal. They have a plan to do that. But also pointing out and agreeing it is important to support investment as well. Yvonne great interview. Thank you. We will be showing more of that later on. Lets get the first word news with Courtney Collins in new york. Euro finance ministers any hopes greece may have made of getting their hands on new a payments quickly. Tax ands are demanding pension and labor reforms before they will sign off on an agreement. Having previously said the talks would be the last chance before elections, the e. U. Agreed to pick up discussions in the coming days. We have to realize there is at this point. It is a good step institutions have enough confidence and a common agreement to go back to athens. Yvonne a new poll suggests Marine Le Pen is gaining ahead of the first round vote on april 23. The Opinion Survey has the National Front leader on 27 with the independent at 20 . The poll found l he would easily defeat le pen in a runoff. The spread between french and the german equivalent widened the most in more than four years. Defense secretary james mattis says the u. S. Is not in iraq to seize oil, despite President Trumps past threats. He met military leaders in baghdad under the shadow of the president s comments and the failed travel ban which included iraqi citizens. He said u. S. Forces would be there for some time fighting the socalled Islamic State alongside iraqs army. The resilience of this army, recognize it took casualties. It has reconstituted itself, both equipment and personnel wise. And as you know, has already crossed the line of departure going because the enemy and west mosul. This was not something that was a foregone conclusion for an army that a year ago many people were questioning. Yvonne russia overtook saudi arabia is the worlds biggest crude producer in december when both countries started restricting output ahead. Pressure pumped almost 10. 5 Million Barrels a day, 30,000 more than saudi arabia. It was the First Time Since march russia produced more oil. The u. S. Was the third biggest producer followed by a rock and china iraq and china. Day. 24 hours a im Courtney Collins. This is bloomberg. Yvonne singapore has outlined a budget aimed at supporting the struggling offshore and construction industries. The finance minister did acknowledge growth would be slow going moving forward. The one thing i thought was interesting is he said singapore needs to go beyond just stimulus. They are laying out the budget targeting specific industries to boost those sectors in the near term while also rolling out the plan for the mediumterm. The finance minister did outline a budget which gave a helping hand to some industries struggling. The marine industry and the offshore industry. He said they were dealing with what he called cyclical weaknesses. They are having levees on Foreign Workers delayed by another year. Infrastructure spending brought forward. Just under 500 million u. S. Dollars of spending projects. Five, thedes terminal airport terminal. He says that will cost tens of billions of dollars. There also be spending for the transit line as well. That will be the billions of dollars as well in the next five years. It included support for skills training, employment eight increasingly the employment age to 67. Will ber, the surplus about 1. 3 billion u. S. 1, whichtarting april is less than half of what it was for this year. Yvonne there were some surprises, especially with the carbon tax announced for 2019. The budget has a birds eye view of the economy for the longterm as well. Yes. Many economists have said incentives for the shortterm are there but in the longterm they are helping singapore to move beyond this unpredictable time. Singapore is very dependent on trade. Two thirds of singapores gdp is generated by external demand. ,t is way above its neighbors even south korea. The finance minister has been saying singapore will need to reposition for the future. The budget outlined ways to do this. Focuseed to diversify and on growth clusters. The focus did stay on mediumterm measures and infrastructure. That carbon tax was a surprise in the budget. Yvonne we will ask the second finance minister about that in the next hour. Thank you. Lets look at the earnings front. 2 after posting an increase in fullyear profit. Lets get over to paul allen joining us from sydney. Another beneficiary of the rebounding energy prices. How were the numbers . Pretty good. 610 million for net profit. That is 469 dollars u. S. The replacement was 524 million australian. Paying a final dividend of . 52 per share. The market responding well. Up to percent now. Up 2 now. Will shares off 2 despite the company returned to profit. Fullyear profit was lower than estimated but does reversed the loss from a year ago. Revenue for oil search also down with a dividend of 3. 5 cents per share. We will have more on that later on with the c. E. O. Joining us. We are hearing about bhp, the strike at the mine. It seems talks between the union and company have failed. Do you expect that to be talked about during the Earnings Call later today when it does report numbers . That will be one of the things to watch for on the Earnings Call after the close in australia and before the open in london. Another thing analysts will be looking for is what line php goes down in terms of reducing debts or paying out dividends. The market expecting great things in terms of the fullyear profit, a sevenfold increase expected. That is thanks to those rebounds we have seen in iron ore and coal prices. Bank expecting an interim dividend of . 28. Yvonne paul allen from sydney, thank you. We will look at why streambank results may be the best or worst depending on which way you view them. Our next guest says global escape velocity for the First Time Since 2010. He joins us next. This is bloomberg. We are counting you down to the asia open. Trading in sydney underway. We are seeing pressure down about. 1 . The aussie dollar hovering. This is daybreak asia. Lets do a quick check of the latest headlines. They are the highest in five months after the Company Approved a 2. 4 billion Share Buyback to improve returns for stakeholders. To buy more than expected. This comes after cash investments welled at the end of last year. Citigroup has agreed to pay a penalty of almost 5. 5 million to settle an antitrust investigation in south africa. The bank was accused of participating in an alleged cartel to manipulate the value of the rand. Citigroup will also make with is available to help prosecute other banks. African investigation is the latest into rigging by banks of products tied to the foreign exchange. Shell and toyota are Building Seven new fueling stations for Hydrogen Cars in california. The state is trying to address the lack of refueling infrastructure and targeting 100 sites by 2024. Toyota plans to use hydrogen to phase out its traditional engine models by 2050. Look for a muted start to the trading day. My next guest says there is evidence the market rally will continue. Joining us is the head of dynamic asset allocations. Great to have you. It has gotten monotonous. We look at the record highs in the u. S. And some parts of the world as well. Is it too good to last . Yvonne it looks like we have some issues. We will get back to him later out of sydney. Stay with us on bloomberg television. Yvonne you are watching daybreak asia. Lets get back to our guest. Hopefully, we fixed the technical issues. I hope you can hear me. I want you to talk about the trump risk overrated. We see record highs. It has got monotonous as i was saying earlier. Is it too good to last . At some ofple, look the executive orders. Immigration and there was a court ruling against that. No checks and balances. Trump is the sole operator. He comes out with a trade were on china. Those risks are overrated. If you look at his attitude towards china, it has changed, for japan. He is taking a more moderate approach based on the advice of some of the moderates on his team. The risk is overrated in the shortterm. Also i should say markets have come a long way. Any shortterm profit taking would not be a surprise, especially as we get closer to the european elections. That will be a buying opportunity in my view. Yvonne interesting you to talk about china quite a bit. I want to show this chart to our viewers. Hopefully you can see it. I know that you like em given the 10 gain in less than two months. It seems like china outperforming most emerging markets. How would you interpret this . Is it more of the bright spot . Can the rest of em catch up . A combination of things. First of all, around february of last year, the expectation was for china hard lining. Shares valuations that down to dirt cheap level. Obviously, china did not fall apart. Things became less bad. Things are improving. When you look at the valuations on chinese shares compared to global, for example u. S. Valuations are a lot more attractive. Also i should say there is always this backandforth between the property and stock market in china. We have seen a heated up is localmarket investors take profit out of the properties, some money will be flowing into chinese local share markets. That will continue to push shares higher. Until we see the same kind of exuberance. Hopefully, we do not see the same we saw in 2015. But for now, it is recovering, taking hold. Yvonne what do you see as the biggest difference between now and 201516 . Is there Something Different that makes you more bullish when it comes to mainland equities now . Is not just china. Get is global. From a it is not just china. It is global. We had the u. S. Recovery. With that, Monetary Policy convergence which put pressure on emergingmarket currencies and brought up inflationary pressures. That put pressure on europe. Because Global Growth was lopsided, there was a lot of pressure on the u. S. Dollar. It had a negative effect to the rest of the world. That has changed. Global growth is broader. The fact that china stabilized, they just pushed away from reform targets to support growth. Some Infrastructure Spending and the easing in Monetary Policy we had from early 2015. Monetary policy works on the lag. The effect of that is still coming true. Real yields are going down. There are a lot of difference between 215 and that makes this recovery more sustained. Yvonne what about for the fed risk . The fednue to hear president saying she is comfortable with more rate hikes. We still see the fed funds futures still around 30 for the month of march. What are we missing . First of all, if you look at the correlation between the u. S. Dollar and the fed rate hike expectations, that is breaking down. As we get more indications for rate hikes, we probably will and the market will catch up. The effect on equities and currencies is not the same. That is because we are past the peak of Monetary Policy convergence. Eden we had the f talking about hikes in 2015, we had other Central Banks working hard to defend growth. That is not the case now. We are talking about europeans tapering. Historically, a third rate hike would not have the same effect. Yvonne thank you. Coming up, we will know more hear more of our exclusive interview with australias with x1 you get the best of the oscars. Youre a funny guy. Funny how . How am i funny . Scorsese finally wins. Could you double check the envelope . Show me best picture. Whats the difference . Show me best actor. I do not take tonight for granted. Thank you so very much. Get all the greatest scripted and unscripted oscar moments on xfinity x1. The oscars, live sunday, february 26th 7ea4p on abc. Minutes away 30 from asias first major market open. Hshares resuming the strongest rally of the year. Thisannounces earnings afternoon. I am yvonne man in hong kong. Singapore has announced a series of measures to help the offshore Energy Services with construction. It will extend rebates on Corporate Taxes. The finance minister said the measures were aimed at driving growth between 2 and 3 over the next decade. President trump has picked a new National Security adviser after Michael Flynn resigned over lying about his ties with russia. Trump has selected Army Lieutenant general h. R. Mcmaster for the post. The president met several potential candidates. Robert harwoods rejected the job. The u. S. Vice president has alleged a strong commitment to the eu. Speaking with the European Council president in brussels, mike pence said the Trump Administration will seek ways to bolster relations. Trump at question the eus viability and had called nato obsolete. Told bloombergt that mike pence had helped to reassure americas allies. It was an important speech in terms of reaffirming our commitment to nato. I think though as they talk about it, good speech, those are words. Lets see what the actions are. I think that will generally be the measure in terms of whatever statements are made and how they are reinforced. Behsbc investors will looking for signs the bank will follow through on plans to return more capital when it announces fourthquarter results today. Shares have surged more than 40 , helped by a stock buyback plan. They will look to whether the bank can move to revenue faster than calls for a second straight quarter. Hsbc reports earnings midday and hong kong come of 11 00 p. M. In new york, shortly after we speak to the lenders cfo at 11 00 p. M. In london. Internet entrepreneur kim dotcom, a High Court Ruled he was not guilty of copy right frenchman, but eligible for removal to the yes on the grounds of conspiracy and fraud. He says he will appeal the ruling. Global news 24 hours a day powered by more than 2600 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. This is bloomberg. Yvonne thank you. Sophie kamaruddin by the market board, but it looks things are heading south. Sophie not much direction. Barrel. Ing above 50 a in australia, weakness for a , health carewn. 1 stocks dragging on the index. Earnings from australia. We do have the yen snapping gains. We are anticipating japanese shares to open higher along with while china and hong kong look for a weaker start. Hang seng bank posting earnings numbersong with hsbc, due out new hong kong time, the first of the big british banks to report. Another earnings report, bhp billiton just pull up the chart of the share price today, snapping a two day drop this tuesday. Bhp shares have risen some 50 over the past year. It is expected to post a rise in firsthalf earnings angst to the jump and base metals, iron ore at the highest since 2014, and the aussie dollar tracking that rise. Chief economist sees a resurgence in austrian airport helping to put the aussie at . 80 and beyond. Price ando, the bhp the aussie dollar on the rise, helped significantly by the iron horse surge we have seen over the past year. Yvonne thank you. An houran now, just ago, we spoke to the Prime Minister about everything from President Trump and the tpp to the commodities boom and chinese investment. Askingun started by Malcolm Turnbull about protectionism and the importance of free trade with the global economy. That we maintain the drive towards a more open markets and free trade. Trade means jobs. Australia is a trading nation. Our future depends on not simply selling things to 24 million australians, but to the whole world, and so as i said at the g20 last year, protectionism is not a ladder to get you out of the low growth trap, it is a shovel to dig get deeper, so that is why we are committed as australia is committed, and indeed as china is committed, as the president said at davos, to free trade and opening up more markets. It has been an important element in our Successful Transition on the peak of the historic onceinalifetime terms of trade boom, a peak of a massive mining construction boom. That came off, as it was going to. Many economists said we would have a hard landing, and we didnt. That was large part due to opening of markets in asia. Haidi more protectionist environment, . Like we seen with oz group there will always be circumstances where Foreign Investment is not regarded as eating in the national interest, but generally you would have to say that there are very few countries in the world, i cant think of any in fact, which is not more open for Foreign Investment than australia. Many, very few barriers to investment and australia. There are some, and does the government, we determine what is in the national interest, but there is massive investment from all of the countries you have mentioned and others in australia, and we welcome it. We always ensured that it is in our national interest. Haidi you know strata, we have the situation where we have protectionist rightwing voices getting allowed her stay in parliament about what kind of Foreign Investment goes on. Anderms of one nation dealing with our unprotected and is him, following what we saw with the brexit vote, with trumps victory, do you think youre engaging in the right way . Make the casee we and explained that more trade means more opportunities for australian businesses. Australian businesses are the best in the world. All strains are smart, creative, our produce the best in the world, so we want to have the biggest, whitest Playing Field to run onto. We just dont want to sell to 24 million australians. We want to sell to the whole world, and that is why we want to see more access to that. The really concerning factor in terms of protectionism is the way the labour party, which has historically been supportive of free trade, has become increasingly protectionist, and this is a populist move on the labour partys part. Your party is the one doing preference deals with one nation. Is that dangerous . Is that encouraging the rise of popular sentiment . Toit is important understand, particular for nonor strain viewers, in most parts of australia, we have a compulsory Preferential Voting system. You have to number a square next to the name of each candidate, so there will always be the allocation of preferences them up and just because preferences are directed to a party does not mean you support them. Quite the contrary, we will always say vote one liberal or one national, then how we allocate the preferences on the vote card, that is a political calculation am a but always designed to maximize our vote, just as other people have had a vote cast. Haidi i want to move on to President Trump. It has become a parlor game, a guessing game, over whether the president means what he says. In your interactions and experiences in which have been documented in the media whether they are accurate is another matter. Haidi what kind of leader is he . There are some parallels to beecher on. You both come into politics from business. You are a Goldman Sachs alum. He has a pension for hiring them. Do have things in common . I will leave that for others to judge. We have had several conversations that have been constructive, frank, and forthright, and we have a deep engagement with the American Administration, and every American Administration. The australianu. S. Alliance, relationship, is deep. It is built over a century of fighting sidebyside in every major conflict. It is an alliance. It is an economic partnership. It is built on millions of people to people links and family links, so it is very strong and very deep. Haidi how do you view the man though . He is a very Big Personality and he has a very big job. Haidi in terms of the added difficulty of decisionmaking, he is someone who does diplomacy by social media, by twitter. There is certainly an element of the unexpected. Does that change the way you deal with the u. S. . No, we pursue our National Interests methodically, commonly, consistently. We make our case very frankly. And forthrightly, when speaking to american friends, but like you would expect, with good friends, we are fairly circumspect about what we say in public, so it is important we give frank advice and frank exchanges with our american counterparts, but we dont do it, dont lecture them through the media. It is very important i think to be able to talk frankly has good friends should. Haidi in the markets, we have been trying to work out what is trumped the president versus trump the candidate, and a lot of that has come to fruition by pulling out of tpp. Do you think he means what he says . That is a judgment you have to make. President s, people will always assume president s and Prime Ministers mean what they say naturally, but in terms of a commentary on u. S. Politics, i will leave that to the collective talent at bloomberg. It is not my job to comment on u. S. Political developments. That was australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull speaking exclusively to haidi lun on daybreak asia. 8 or the anz 80 or worst results . We look at Financial Reporting on strain brinks. This is bloomberg. You downe are counting to asias first major market open this morning. Japan futures looking soft, dollaryen around 113 this morning. This is bloomberg daybreak asia. I am yvonne man in hong kong. The honor of burger king looking to buy pipe eyes louisiana kitchen. It is in advanced talks and a day deal may be announced this week. The two had failed to reach an agreement and other talks, burger king renewed its interest last week and is said to have made a mainly cash offer for the 1. 4 billion company. Increasing Financial Support of air berlin after the unprofitable german carrier failed to convince bondholders for repayment. Buyabu dhabi airline will 57 Million Dollars of convertible bonds after air berlin bondholders rejected a Debt Exchange that would have delayed repayment for nine months. Airbus says it is following all the rules in dealing with iran. The Trump Administration in post new sanctions in response to irans Ballistic Missile test. Will tell you something will make you smile, but i can tell you is that we are completely in the very heart in full feeling of the rules and legal obligations to discuss with partners in iran. You know that it has been announced we sold in 2016 about 100 aircraft in iran. Enhance this and talk to other potential airlines in the country as long as we are completely allowed to do so. You can catch that interview in full on Bloomberg Markets middle east today around 12 30 p. M. Hong kong time. Surge as aale shareholder structure for Greater Transparency was revealed. The minor has been controlled by pension fund and banks. Now the expiration of a shareholder pact will see shares converted into ordinary shares. Owningle shareholder can more than 25 without an ipo being held. Austrian banks having a hard time being consistent with earnings reports. For instance, a 31 jump last quarter, although from another angle, the worst result in five years. Bring in our bloomberg gadfly columnist investigating these earnings. Why the discrepancy . It is all about the baseline would you do comparisons. That 31 profit jumped they reported on friday, that is using an unusual baseline. Comparedt quarter is to not the previous december quarter, not even the previous , but an average of the september and june quarters, which is an unusual baseline. Was afourth quarter particularly terrible result. They did not, but dwell a lot on the bad results because it was their annual results, so you get this impressive performance that is based on a baseline that no one has paid a lot of attention to before hand. Depending on which baseline you use, you can produce all sorts of numbers. National Australia Bank have been doing it since 2011 for that result. Not the onlyey are ones, so what are the justifications for doing it this way . Suppose there is one reasonable justification. They have changed a lot over the last year. On the bloomberg terminal that shows the performance of the Australian Bank share prices over the past year, and anz and nab outperformed, which is suggesting shareholder see them differently. Anz has divested 12 billion worth of businesses. Off its bank, which has been a weight on it for a long time, so maybe comparing to 12 months ago isnt the most reasonable way to do it. Maybe youre better comparing to an average period within the last nine months. It has to be used judiciously and sparingly. Yvonne transparency issues the come a problem, but doesnt that suggest it is a good idea to use it as a comparison . David i think the key is sparingly. To be fair, they started doing this one year ago, but nab have been doing it since 2011. Ill strain banks, half of their shareholders are direct retail shareholders, not analysts lagging numbers into a spreadsheet. A lot of headlines on friday were talking about anc, 31 profit job. In terms of eps, there was no change from 12 months earlier, so there is always a risk that some of these metrics are meant to clarify, but there is fine line between clarifying and of securing. Commonwealth bank in terms of its book evaluation, they just report the numbers and an extremely straight way. I think that is a good way. Journalists like us, when banks talking to shareholders, should keep it a straight as they can. Yvonne thank you. Joining us live from sydney there. We feature on the bloomberg like to show you is our interactive tv function. You go to tv. You will be able to watch us live. Previous interviews and dive into any securities or bloomberg functions we talked about in the last couple of hours. You can become part of the conversation by sending us an instant message during the show, side of your screen there. That is for bloomberg subscribers only. Check it out at tv. , the demise of the combustion image engine. This is bloomberg. Yvonne this is daybreak asia. I am in yvonne man in hong kong. Toyota and shell are betting on the demise of traditional engines, partnering to build seven fueling stations for Hydrogen Cars as part of the japanese carmakers plans to cut emissions by 2015. For more on this now, lets bring in our tour yoda reporter from tokyo. Toyota reporter from tokyo. An ambition plan, but still a ways to go . Indeed. Infrastructure is among the main challenges for this Hydrogen Fuelcell Tech Knowledge he that toyota is pushing. It is the biggest promoter of this technology among automakers. With seven additional fueling stations in california, that out of ae total to 32 100 target within seven years, so only a third of the way there. It does perhaps signal some urgency on the part of these energy companies. Shell is part of a 13 Company Consortium looking into how to promote this, how to get this infrastructure going, because these companies, not just toyota , they are pushing for eradicating a Combustion Engine from its lineup by 2050. Shell is among companies basically thinking that time of false or feels may be coming to an end. We could see a peek and demand within five years, so there should be more impetus for these companies to put this infrastructure in place. Germany as another location targeting 400 fuel stations, so the infrastructure is not there yet, but certainly it is a sign that people are pushing ahead with trying to get it there. Yvonne shunning the traditional fossil fuel burning cars and possibly even outlawing it in a few decades. Hydrogen isnt the only clean Energy Option now. Where does toyota stand in terms of electric vehicles . Electric vehicles have not been a focus of toyota to this point. They have done a lot to promote vehicle,the fuel cell but they have a target to sell 3000 this year. They have only sold 2800 globally so far, although that is only because production has. Een slow in the early stages byy want to sell 30,000 2020, and a lot has to happen in between that time for people to adopt the technology. Seems to recognize it wants to do more. The president of the company is in charge of a small team of four people i believe that are working on an electric vehicle project. The former chief engineer of the ius plugin, he is also involved in that project. Rius launch event last week, the chairman mentioned ans plugin hybrid runs as electric vehicle, so there is certainly a recognition that electric vehicles have a role to play, but obviously tesla and toyota are very different companies. Reporterur toyota joining us live from tokyo there. Thank you. Just reminder, the latest earnings reports from australia at 10 10 hong kong time. Australias Prime Minister backed Infrastructure Investments to spur growth. Exclusive interview. Singapores budget fast tracks half a billion in spending and extends Corporate Tax rebates. And oil surge shares dip after profitsossil fuels drive it down. Fromis daybreak asia, live bloombergs headquarters. Im in hong kong, where its past 8 00 a. M. Big guests coming up this hour. First up, c. E. O. Jonathan sloane, joining us live from the 2017 japan forum in tokyo. Watching out folks of sydney. At 8 40, well go live to to lawrence speak wong. Hes going to dissect singapores 2017 budget. You can see all that here on go. Mberg television or t. V. Pretty slowgoing here with the asket open in japan as well korea. Pretty quiet there with the u. S. Celebrating president s day on monday. U. S. Markets are closed. Were still looking for that catalyst. It could be the next thing to watch. Hey, asian stocks looking very flat. Have australian stocks the drop there. We do have Software Player ltm sliding. It does expect to top its revenue goal. Parsons dropping for a third day. A disappointing first half report. 225 upave the nikkei about 1 10 of a . One a look at what is moving the nikkei. Up about 2. 5 . Sheba, climbing 2. 4 . There is anticipation that it to begin talks around bids for its chip stake sale. At some currency movers here today, checking in of theaussie, ahead minutes due in about a half hour, it is climbing somewhat, 76, 89. And Deutsche Bank sees more thate, thanks to resurgence in australian basets, with that rise in models. They are seeing the aussie 80 u. S. Cents and even beyond. Take a look at whats going on with the yen, extending its drop here. Jen says the yen will bottom and then rebound to by early 2018. Now, the yen has appreciated over 3 this year, even as trump accuses japan of devaluing its currency. Jen says for the end of the next months, it will be more about the fed rather than japan and the b. O. J. He does see three rate hikes this year. Well, the australian Prime Minister has told bloomberg he will maintain a Good Relationship with the u. S. , reported rift with President Trump. Now, speaking exclusively to australia, trum ball also spoke against protectionism. Now from sydney. A lot of your focus with the Prime Minister was on geopolitical matters. What did he have to say about trump . Right. s we all know how that was very widely reported. We did cover a lot. Say, thes you spotlight was always going to be on australias relationship with the u. S. S, specifically. The p. M. s relationship with the new american president. The Prime Minister whether hes had to change the way that he deals with the white is a, given that really it brave new world in terms of how trump handles diplomacy and that was said since the election. Hes got a bold new style. They have notid changed their approach at all. He said hed had several trump, thats with theyve been constructive, frank and forth right. Then he said he will continue to pursue australias national the case verymade frankly. He also said, using the analogy of being good friends, as with good friends, hes fairly circumspect about what he says about that relationship in public. Heres what he did have to say to us about President Trump. The australianu. S. Alliance relationship is very deep. Its built on over a century side ining side by every major conflict. An economicance, partnership, built on millions of peopletopeople links and family links. Its very strong and very deep. How do you view him as a man, though . Very bighe is a personality and hes got a very big job. A man with a Big Personality and a big job was all he would trump when isident asked him how he felt about him as a leader, as a man. We also spoke about the for free trade, given that with the President Trump presidency, weve got the theica first approach, brexit vote, the rise of populism thats also taking hold in australia with the rise of the antiimmigration, one nation Party Getting more of a say in parliament. The Prime Minister spoke strongly about the need for open markets, to pursue free trade much australias Economic Future very much relies on that. Is vital that we maintain the drive towards more open trade. And free trade means jobs. Australia is a trading nation. Future depends on not simply selling things to 24 million but selling them to the whole world. The g20 last year, protectionism is not a ladder to get you out of the trap. Shovel to dig it much deeper. Yes. So we did speak at length about, perceived hes perceived as a champion of free couldbut also how that potentially come into conflict as you have these governments around the world that seem to be from that sentiments. Out look when it came to the australian economy . Theres been a lot of talk about Infrastructure Spending coming the Prime Minister as well. Yes. We spoke about, you know, what i gauge as almost a political obsession with this a. A. A. Rating. Things into context, if we have a cut with that a. A. A. , it puts australia on par with u. S. With the u. K. Getting downgraded after the brexit vote, the win about it. Ng i asked him about this rising apulism, whether that means more hostile environment. We have had these failed bids by infrastructure last year. And he was at pains to convey that australia is very much open for business, one of the most open economies. The other thing we spoke about perceived reluctance for the government to spend on infrastructure in favor of cutting down that budget deficit. The reserve bank and the i. M. F. Have both called on australia to going isre while the good, while rates are low and invest in infrastructure to spur productivity, job creation, growth. And the p. M. Said that australia is committed to that, committed to Infrastructure Investment and that the i. M. F. Is right to is a majorhat it driver of growth. Definitely, a fine line there going to bere approaching that. Sydney, that interview with turnbull. Thanks so much. Up, a small plane with five people on board has crashed in theshopping mall australian city of melbourne. Witnesses say the plane crashed exploded soon after taking off from the nearby airport around 9 a. M. Local time. Five people were aboard. Police havent released any casualties. T area finance minister dashed any hopes greece may have on on getting their hands aid payments quickly. The tax pension and labor offrm, before theyll sign on an agreement. Having previously said these talks would be the last chance before european elections this the e. U. Agreed to pick up discussions in thi the coming d. Have to realize that there is no agreement. There is no political agreement this point. That would be too early. Its a very positive and good institutions have enough confidence and a common to go back. President trump has picked a advisoronal security after Michael Flynn resigned about his talks with russia. Sources say the president had several potential candidates hiseplace flynn after initial pick, lockheed martins robert harward, rejected the job. Putting itscould be chip business up for sale. The company is considering a as 8. 8raise as much billion. Conditions of the sale are said to include maintaining well as Domestic Production and development. The report also says microsoft interested in submitting a bid. The news, 24 hours a day, in countries. 20 im Courtney Collins. This is bloomberg. Well, singapore has outlined a budget aimed at supporting its offshore energy and construction industry. 2017 budgeton the for singapore. The finance minister talked about how they need to go beyond just general stimulus. What does that mean . Certain areas of the economy struggling, as well as to push forward with the plans for future,um and longterm thats very much what we saw in this budget. The finance minister saying theyre lending a hand to the industries,ffshore which he said had been dealing weaknesses cyclical weaknesses. Also, a help for the theastructure, for construction industry, infrastructure, for example, nearly 500 million u. S. Dollars, projects being brought forward. A new terminal, what he calls critical injury billions cost tens of of dollars. Also, earmarked, for example, transportn the public system, which could run into also billions of dollars over so. Next five years or other items included skills training, raising the employment 67 from 65 and also Corporate Tax rebate increase by 3. 5 u. S. Dollars. Than half what it was for this last financial year. Butll these changes here, singapore usually seen as having a long term focus. The longtalk about term. Some of the analysts are saying this is targeting all the areas. L what about the long term head winds for singapore . One of the biggest issues is probably the uncertainty around trade, especially with the new administration. Where is this going . Weve seen singapores economy slightly pick up in the last year, because exports started picking up. Many of itsore than in is more dependent on trade. Twothirds of its g. D. P. That. Ted by singapore wants to deepen and ties. Ify global and its trying to achieve a year over2 to 3 a the next decade. It says it can achieve that but fors to reposition itself this new era. The focus did stay on measures andncrease competitiveness infrastructure, which took some by surprise. Well, the environmental protection. All right. Thank you. Ahead, cal tech australia, details in the show. Plus, our next guest remains optimistic about world trade 2017. In well be speaking to the c. E. O. , next. This is daybreak asia. Our next guest, g. D. P. Growth stronger in 2016, but not when china. S to joining us now from the japan tokyo is the companys c. E. O. On howto get your take the markets this euphoria we seems like wes, see this bipolar world with what ares and the currencies telling us. What do you make of equity and our outlook this year . Can these animal spirits live on under somewhat volatile trump and the confusion on capitol hill . Well, aside from whats happening with donald trump, we that the commodities cycle has bottomed out. Therefore, were gonna see back in commodities and therefore see a pickup in trade. So places like china, which have deflation their for a long time, also russia, also going, that recovery is to drive a commodity recovery, which is also going to drive an recovery. Ade despite the fact that there are structural issues in, say, china, we think that growth is going to be better than some people expect and we actually are very positive on the equity market there as well. Thef course we see commodities bottom out. But when it comes to trump, ofugh, there could be a lot head winds moving forward in 2017. Do youngs he has said, take that literally or seriously, jonathan, and what assumptions do you factor in, in your forecast . I think as the cabinet tet settles down and as donald trump moves away from campaigning, really that relevant for global trade anymore, and starts identifying americas whatinterests in terms of they want to defend, i think much morele down to a focused and a much more positive debate concerning the issues that the United States has with trading with its trading partners. Not to say that negotiations are going to be difficult. Dont think its going to be a big picture approach of, stop trade. I think its gonna be more about identifying core issues having with access to High Technology markets, access to protection, a access for u. S. Companies. I think once you have that, things will settle down. Thent think that United States wants to get into a trade war simply because its going to be very negative for people. Its not in the u. S. s best interest to put barriers up at and just see trade fall. Its in their best interest to their corend interests, which are somewhat different than the administration has talked about so far. You see these people, the cabinet people getting into you see advisors getting into place, i think youre gonna see a very different level of rhetoric of the coming out of the white house. Is there anything the markets are mispricing at the moment . Well, i think the markets are one,icing, number corporate change in japan. Nowe had a situation where japanese shareholders are voting against management that have morens in equity under 5 , than foreigners are. I dont think the Foreign Community has really understood that now Corporate Restructuring is being driven by domestic than foreignr players. I think theres a misunderstanding about china. People with china think theyre going to destroy the World Economy or its going to save the World Economy. Fact is, is that chinas economy has stabilized. Companies doing very well in china and theres enough growth that were gonna see corporate growth. Theres enough growth that right now, they can deal with that issue. Theres no doubt that both the structure of debt in china is somewhat problematic. However, they need growth to that issue. And i think youre gonna see growth. I think after the Party Meetings later this year, youre going to see a little bit more of a were veryroach, and bullish as a result of that. Yes. Start so far in china. Make sure you stick around for segment. Coming up next here, well continue our conversation with him. This is bloomberg. Lets get back to our conversation with Salt Lake City c. E. O. Jonathan slone, joining us from the japan forum. Thanks so much for sticking around. I want to get your gauge on what youre hearing on the ground there in tokyo, because we just got these export figures that of a letdown in japan. I know you cant just focus on one month but this has been a market it has really been very hampered when it comes to forreturn on equity companies, if you compare it to the u. S. Kind of chugging along with well. As do you see any change on the horizon, finally . You know, we see companies hitachi, banks like bank, coming out with good earnings. I think theres a lot more responsiveness. They are a rulebased place. Yearsassed a year two ago. Now the domestic players are starting to follow that by voteing to vote out or against these boards of directors who are doing nothing about it. So i think that it took some time, but i think were at that Inflection Point now. Lote gonna see management a more responsive to return on equity and a lot less responsive the status quo. Ill tell you something, i was whoing to local friends are, you know, very much not in the marketplace. And theyre very much behind what abe is doing. They understand that need for change. They understand the need for progress. That is something that we havent seen in a long time. In terms of your business, it very difficult, challenging environment, especially for 2016. Count, how didd int doctodrop how did that p 2016 and how does that move forward with your plans for 2017 . 2016, im not sure we lost any head count. How things gonna see work out. One thing is that regulators are hard, thisy, very situation between research and for research. Ay i think that just takes information out of the marketplace. Very much, the more information we have, the more alpha we can give our clients, outperformance we can provide. So i very much want to see a pullback from the separation between what clients can pay for information and what cant pay. Clients are smart people. They understand when information they understand when they want to play for it. So, should be allowed to do as long as theyre very clear with their clients what theyre paying for. 2017said, well see where goes. Its very early in the marketplace. January was a reasonable month. It pans out. What about for Bank Regulation . Obviously theres been a lot of talk about the rollback and how that could affect the u. S. Financials. As well, with some regulations there. If you had to access the impact on your asia business, how bad was it, and are you making changes to your fees and Business Model this year . Obviously the increase in regulation has impacted everybodys business. More regulation, more bureaucracy, more things to do. Are being said, because we not a commercial bank, it doesnt affect us as much as some of our peer groups. Hsbc having to move their headquarters to birmingham to fromthis bank separated the investment bank, that is nothing that were really hurt by. Do think, overall, you are lotg to see returns be a less differentiated in Financial Services. See someing to Financial Services companies that are heavily regulated to kind of like commoditylike returns, rather and the sharp increases decreases in returns weve seen in the past. Its definitely had an impact on markets. Ll financial as far as clsa, we comply with all rules and regulations. Were happy to do so. We just hope, with this research a little bit of understanding that information is a good thing for the paidtplace and should be for. Jonathan, i know youve got to go. You see as the biggest risk in asia this year . Well, lets bring back donald trump a little bit. Simply because we dont know do. Hes going to its not the fact that hes a risk in and of himself. Its the fact that so far, weve a lot of rhetoric and a lot of noise out of washington. And we need to wait to see exactly what happens here. Again, i think that when his when hisits down, people sit down, i think they will have a very rational viewpoint. Very certainly they need to understand what americas best interests are and act on those, dont think is putting up trade barriers with the rest of the world. That being said, until we see exactly what those policies are, until we see exactly where seepe is going, where we this whole rightward movement, we dont know whats going to happen. To have you. Thank you so much. Andthan slone, chairman c. E. O. , from the japan forum. Us. With it is 8 30 in sunny singapore. Just half an hour away from the there. Trading im in hong kong. We just got some breaking news. Coming throught here, for the meeting in february, where they did keep record low 1. 5 , when it came to rates. Saying that consumption bywth rise to be limited subdued income. China remains the source of uncertainty for australia. In Spare Capacity to persist the labor market for some time. Signals thereixed when it comes to unemployment and the participates rate rate when it comes to full employment. They did keep the hash rate unchanged. The resources exports to make a contribution. D. P. So this is what we are seeing right now. Dollar, we have been talking about here, continues to be very resilient. That. Face of given this outlook, when it comes to this resurgence in exports, we continue to watch these lines coming through. Thelets take a look at first word news. Thanks so much. Singapore has announced a series help the offshore Energy Services and boost construction. Nearly bring forward half a billion worth of Infrastructure Spending and extend rebates on Corporate Taxes. In his budget speech, the finance minister said the driving were aimed at growth from between 2 and 3 over the next decade. Hasu. S. Vice president pledged a strong commit to the e. U. On the last leg of his tour. An speaking with the European Council and president in said the Trump Administration would seek ways to bolster relations. Earlier called nato, quote, obsolete. Former secretary of state, madeleine albright, said pence had helped reassure americas allies. It was former secretary of state, madeleine an important speech in terms of reconfirming our commitment to nato. The people, when they come to talk about it, they said it was a good speech. Words. Re lets see what the actions are. I think thats generally going to be the measure in terms of how whatever statements are made, how theyre reinforced. Defense secretary james mattis says the u. S. Is not in to seize its oil. Iraqs Prime Minister in baghdad under the shadow of the president s oil comments and failed travel ban, which included iraqi citizens. He said u. S. Forces would be for some time, fighting the socalled Islamic State. The resilience of this army, casualties. Took it has reconstituted itself, both equipment and know,nelwise, and as you has already crossed the line of departure in going against the economy in west mosul. Is not going against the enmy in west mosul. Investors will be looking for signs the bank will follow through on signs, when it announces results today. Shares have surged more than 50 since the brexit vote. Investors will also be watching bankor whether whether the can boost revenue. Fourth quarter earnings at about midday hong time. Shortly after that, we speak chufl to the lenders c. E. O. London time. M. 2 p. M. In hong kong. Global news 24 hours a day. Collins. Ney this is bloomberg. Lets recap some of the breaking news coming out of the rba with those minutes. Terp prospects, quite bullish. The prospects for growth, more positive. Did talk about some of the domestic head winds when it came to Spare Capacity in the market. Its going to pett persist for e time. Reached ah had trough, and the drag on growth, wane. Investment, to a little bit of head wind. Also talking about the external effects, china among the rba ambers, saying it remains main source of uncertainty for australia. And the Inflation Expectations still well anchored. The consensus, seems like, back unchanged. Ed the big question is now, when was going to be the next move to rates. Iking lets see how the Market Reaction is when it comes to these rba minutes. Not seeing a whole lot of moves. Hitting a session low cents. 81 u. S. Now just rising higher here, 76, 76,86. You noted, no surprise that china was mentioned in the what thend given governor has said around its not quite reaching their targets, certainly something to consider that bodes for a cut from the rba this year. Theng a look at some of reaction, we do have this in the ad, still down about 2 10 of percent there. We do have the likes of oil afterg for a second day, posting 72 drop in annual profit. Do have Caltex Australia rising for an eighth day. Did post profits that topped. Ore, snapping a twoday decline. Scope extending mondays climb after more than doubling its profit. And so were talking about crude, of course, with now oil holding above 53 bucks a barrel. The Energy Shares in asia picking up . Yes. Thats also the case with the 225. I oil and gas shares up about 6 10 percent. Snapping five Straight Days of losses. Offer a more upbeat highert on the back of oil prices and a weaker yen. Taking a look at other movers on 225, we have some interesting moves. Reports of a potential tieup sprint and tmobile. We are keeping an eye on toshiba shares, rising for a second day. Reports that it will begin the ase process for its chip early as friday. Thank you. At shares oflook caltex in australia, after increase in 17 profits. Shares up more than 1 right now. In paul, tracking all of this out of sydney. Another beneficiary of those rebounding energy prices. How did the earnings look . With some good 610 million, australian, so about 470 million u. S. Mentioned. 7 , as you the number that caltex really looks at is the replacement cost basis. So that came in at 524 million. Still a pretty good number. Revenue did slip 10 to 18 billion. Difex offering a final kennedy of 52 dividend of 52 cents. Well. Rket responding take a look at the oil surge, different story there. Currently off 1. 7 . Fouryear net profit after tax, from the oil surge. That did represent a return to profit. If we take a look at the earnings, not so good. Million. To 107 and the company expecting prices soften in 2017. Well hear a lot more. Have the c. E. O. Live on bloomberg. The close today, one of the big ones, the bulletin reporting its numbers. Expecting there . The market is expecting great bhp. S from a sevenfold increase. On the back of the stronger weve beenrices seeing. 3. 14 billion dollars. Look at theing a numbers, estimated 2. 6 billion there. In atbt expected to come about 26 billion. Analysts are going to be bhp does. Hat will it go for Debt Reduction or wet sort of dividend can expect . It will also be interesting to watch for any commentary around this ongoing strike at mine in chile. Australian Prime Minister says hes had several frank exchanges with trump. The details of the conversations for the public domain. An exclusive interview with australia, mr. Turnbull described the american president as a very Big Personality with a very big job. Weve had several now. Rsations theyve been constructive, frank and forth right. Its been and we have a very deep engagement with the American Administration and every American Administration. The australianu. S. Alliance relationship is very deep. Its built on over a century of by side, in every major conflict. Its an alliance. Partnership. Mic and its built on millions of peopletopeople links and family links. So its very strong and very deep. How do you view him as a man, though . Very bighe is a personality and hes got a very big job. Terms of the difficulty, the added difficulty of decision aking because this is brandnew world. He does diplomacy via twitter. Certainly an element of the unexpected. Does that change the way you deal with the u. S. . No. We pursue our National Interests calmly,ally, consistently. We make our case very frankly. And forth rightly, when were speaking to our american friends. But as youd expect, with good friends, we are fairly what we say inut public. So its important we give very and frank exchanges with our american counterparts we dont,t do it you know, lecture them through the media. Think, toimportant, i be able to talk frankly, as good friends should. In the markets, weve been trying to work out, you know, what is trump, the president , trump the candidate. A lot of that has come to fruition, in terms of pulling t. P. P. The do you think he means what he says . Well, youve got to thats got toent that youve make. I think as president s are always be people will always assume that president s and Prime Ministers mean what say, naturally, but in onms of a sort of commentary u. S. Politics, ill leave that to all the collective talent at bloomberg. To comment onb u. S. Political developments. The australian Prime Minister speaking to us. Outlinessingapore plans to boost growth in the Energy Services sector. The financeaking to minister, next. This is bloomberg. This is daybreak asia. Lets do a quick check on the latest headlines. Overtook saudi arabia as the worlds biggest crude producer, when both countries starting restricting output. 10. 5a pumped nearly billion barrels a day that month, about 30,000 more than saudi arabia, and it was the martha russiace produced more oil. Biggest was the third oil producer, followed by iraq and china. The worlds biggest iron ore, miner has been controlled by an alliance of Pension Funds for two decades now. The expiration of a shareholder convertedsee stocks into ordinary shares. No single shareholder can hold more than 25 without an ipo being held. Uber will conduct an independent review into gender discrimination. They announced the review in response to a blog by a former engineer where she claimed she was propositioned by complaints, with ignored by h. R. It is the latest in a series of saysations by women who theyve been sidelined by silicon valleys maledominated culture. Outlined apore has set of targeted measures to help struggling economy. Were standing by with more. What does the government have in to spur growth . Oh, lots. Said to be the most comprehensive budget ever them. They were trying to propel the forward. Singapores second finance minister joins us this morning. Now, when you take a look at the budget, it takes a medium to longterm approach. To say then that singapore is confident in risksting the immediate like antiglobalization as well weak Consumer Sentiment . Well, we have taken into consideration some of the immediate concerns. Put in place immediate measures in the shortterm measures in the budget as well. But the focus is really about toing a progrowth direction chart a new way forward for our economy to ensure we can continue to create jobs and opportunities for our people. As you know, singapore and facinges everywhere are stronger head winds to growth. There are uncertainties ahead. Just shortterm uncertainties. Technology is disrupting businesses and jobs everywhere. Continue. So the budget is really about having a new direction forward invested in new capabilities to help us get that medium phase. This is a need to deepen, strengthen the revenue base for singapore. An we then looking at increase in tax, inevitably, in term . Orter we have said that we will be studying this. Veryve always adopted a prudent policy position, because we do not want to burden future with debt that they have to cover. Is, if youing now look at the median term, toenditures will continue rise significantly, either for infrastructure or health care reasons. Studying revenue, but we will do it in a way that economy dynamic and keeps our economy growing, while having a system that ensures that singaporeians benefit. Butont say what it is yet we are studying this and we will make a decision in good time. Countries like australia where income tax is at is that something that singapore could move towards . Said thethats why i way we are looking at this is not just to balance the budget of balancing the budget. We are looking at designing a our economyensures remains competitive. At the same time, we want to all a system that benefits singapore people. So we will find ways to design the system such that we can keep the budget balanced but still maintain a competitive and dynamic is too high . I would imagine so. Ha ha where are we in this transformation for singapores economy . Because theres a lot of focus smes to move along, to adopt technology. But the sense out there is adopting fast enough. Has enough been done by the government . If you look at how we are developed, we have been successful in attracting them around the world, to singapore. Now its our turn to export some capabilities and companies. And thats our new direction. Lot ofre putting in a resources to help companies abroad. And i think there are opportunities. Asia is still the fastestgrowing region in the world. We are at the heart of asia. Able to take be full advantage of these opportunities. So the measures in the budget will enable companies to go out, to leverage additional transformation and technology so up very quickly and take advantage of the opportunities around us. Before we, minister, go to break, help for the oil industry. That was mentioned in the budget. The oil industry be saved . Well, its going through a down cycle. Some specific cyclical measures to support them. Industries,most there will be ups and downs. For this down cycle, some of the Companies May have to fold and be restructured. But im sure at some point in go up again. Ll hang tight. Well be right back with singapores second finance manufacture. This is bloomberg. Welcome back. We continue our conversation with singapores second finance minister. At theway, were ministry of national development. Hence, you see the buildings behind the minister. Minister, lets continue our conversation on the risks to the economy. Say that theres the possibility of a u. S. China trade war. How realistic is that, and how is singapores factoring that in outlook . I dont think that either of countries would want to engage in a trade war. But there are risks. The risks are real. Before. Appened we have had trade wars, the whole wave of protectionism world. Ng around the and we should not rule out the possibility that this can happen again. Its we wish it were just rhetoric and the administration would have clear policies to continue to promote trade. The risks are real and we are watching this very carefully. What could be the impact for singapore, given that the two economies, the u. S. And china, tradingapores largest partners . The impact would be very significant. Not just for us but for countries around asia. You can have an economy work out work outs and quantitative impact. But i think more broadly, it be quite damaging to the strategic environment and it have longterm implications. Our trade is more than three times our g. D. P. And openvery small economy, very vulnerable to the external environment. I if there is a trade war, think it will affect many countries in the region and we impacted. Inly be should the global trade situation deteriorate and impact singapores economy, what options are there for the authority of singapore . We have monetary policies and but there will be limits, because like i said, given our side, our domestic small. Is very and so much of our economy is linked around us. Just our exports but its our the fact that we goods andes and people. So a more protectionist will meant significantly lower growth for singapore. That we wishpect would not happen. And thats why, in this budget, we have invested more in capabilities. We cant predict what will happen in the world. But we can invest more in building new capabilities, capabilities that will make us more adaptive and resilient, so we can continue to stay relevant despite an uncertain and changing world. Were moving towards a higher rate environment and that an impact on have singapores property market. Thats lots of speculation the government may remove the imposed. Curbs do you expect those property any time soon . Ed the propertyk at measures, they have helped to achieve a soft lending in the property market. And you look at the market today. Veryct, demand remains resilient. Property volume in terms of increased, notve decreased. Increased in the last year, both thehe primary and in secondary market, in terms of resale. Even thoughs in the trend is going up, it historically i healthy. And is still and our assessment is that these factors will remain for some time. Any move inot made the budget. Okay. So this year, no removal of cuts, right . You have to wait and see. Ha ha minister, we thank you for your insights today. It. E you have weve been speaking to singapores second finance courser, and of singapore released its budget yesterday. Great stuff. You. With singapores second finance minister. That is it from us here. To come withtill Bloomberg Markets asia up next. The president s day holiday. It has been relatively mixed here. Down about a quarter of 1 with those rba minutes. Bit of about a little china uncertainty and also seeing weakness in the domestic front as well. Heading lower here. As we leave you here with a gloomy live picture out of hong kong, this is bloomberg. It is 9 a. M. In hong kong, sydney. In this is Bloomberg Markets asia. Hsbc has been poised for more Share Buybacks and results come few hours. A results dominate aussie earnings. A bump. Ets plus, flying high. Chinas stocks, the most months. E in 18 and theyre still cli
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