freezing output to give prices of those. tata steel under investigation in britain. an internal audit showed a lapse and procedures. follow me on twitter @rishaadtv, don't forget to include #trendingbusiness. china markets underway at the bottom of the hour. singapore, taiwan, malaysia starting off. started with dollar-yen. it has been the story going back to the first of april. in fact, just a few minutes ago, we were below the 108 handle against the u.s. dollar. briefly above that level at the moment. analysts if the boj will start to intervene, chances are according to most, not yet. chance of intervention is quite low according to the bank of singapore. level look at the average where analysts think the boj might step in, 100 dollar-yen. at this level, that would mark the confirmation that the psychology around the currency has completely changed, so watch this very closely. which brings me to the japanese equities session, 15,000 617 is your level here. will the strength and the japanese yen continue to push investors out? foreign investors have been pulling out for weeks going back to the start of the year. so it is dragging down the overall session, which looks like this early monday. read across the boards. d across the boards. extending its gains, rising above $40 a barrel for the first time a month as iraq continues to boost output, all ahead of talks next weekend and it cap and supplies. what is behind this at the moment? fundamentals,s the declines in u.s. production, 10 of the past 11 weeks declining, so that's what the market has been looking at. the other thing is the sentiment around the possibility of some sort of deal out of the meeting between producers. rishaad: hang on a minute. they're only going to freeze output at january levels. toer countries continued bring back more oil onto the market. if you're freezing at levels when there was a glut, what gives? >> there's a lot of confusion about what will happen. kuwait said that perhaps we can freeze output at february levels. saudi arabia says they will not do a deal unless everyone joins, including iran. iran has signaled their intentions to boost output as much as they can. the strategy there is that prices have increased almost 50% since they hit a 12 year low earlier this year. most revenues are derived from a oil, so there pumping more revenue essentially. rishaad: thank you for that. a look at rising food costs and upperty prices will, pushing inflation in china. tom mckenzie is in beijing. what we looking at? yes, the forecast for the cpi and china for marches 2.4%, and increased 2.4% of year on year comparing to an increase of 2.3% in february. to put that into context, if that 2.4% comes through, that will be the fifth monthly consecutive gain for the inflation index, the highest number since july 2014. there are two big factors playing into this, food prices. they are expecting a big jump in the food price in march, and also pork prices are a big component of the shopping bags of most chinese consumers. they are expecting to increase around 60%. market, the estate higher prices in the first tier cities like shanghai and beijing , that will also have factored into the inflation print we are expecting. some local governments have pricesteps to curb those rises in first-tier cities in china, but that is unlikely to have fed into the march number. 3%% is still below the pboc inflation target for 2016, but there are some analysts saying it could weigh on their decisions to ease further to underpin economic growth in china, so that is a concern going forward. those numbers, 930 for the cpi march number in beijing, 9:30 a.m. local time. rishaad: thank you for that. right, let's have a look at other stories we are watching to we have a look at a white knight for marissa mayer. sherri: britain's daily mail newspaper is in talks with private equity firms about making a bid for yahoo! the wall street journal says the through take form properties, or a private equity firm could acquire yahoos internet is this, then form a new company by merging properties with the daily mail's online operations. yahoo! has extended the deadline to april 18 for the first round of offers. exploring selling its main internet operations, that is after scrapping a plan to spin off its taken alibaba. horizon and google are also said to be among potential bidders. sources have told us that horizon plans to make a first round bid this week. -- that horizon plans to make a first round bid this week. thatsteel has confirmed one of its units is under investigations in the u.k.. an internal audit identified a lapse in procedures that speciality steals. mh37 ofa steel suspended a number people. will bek, tata steel talking with liberty house group about selling its british processing operations. analysts say prospective buyers could raise some concerns because of the liabilities arising from the investigation. apple's fight with the u.s. over privacy isn't over. authorities did drop a demand for the company's help and hacking the san bernardino shooters iphone, and someone else found a way to crack it, but they are now saying they will keep fighting to get apple's help in getting data off of phone in new york that drug dealer. they say apple provided assistance and accessing such devices earlier, so the government is going ahead with an appeal of a judge's order denying his request for apple's help. it is far from certain that the justice department will prevail on that appeal after u.s. investigators managed to crack the california phone, so a judge in new york will likely be skeptical that they don't have a way to break into this other phone either. rishaad: thanks a lot for that. coming up later, counting down to the later cpi data out of 20 minutes from now. the yen's rally confounding moats currency strategist. "trending business" in two minutes. ♪ rishaad: you are back with "trending business". the yen surged last week to the highest since 2014, confounding most currency strategist. one says we should be looking at the yen through the way the bond markets look at it. you have analysts everywhere scrambling for a logical explanation for why we are seeing this yen strength heaven that we have weak economic fundamentals in japan. the boj and other policymakers have been trying to jawbone down the dn, as well as all these efforts in terms of monetary easing. if logic was to prevail, it should result in yen weakness. in fact, we have the yen hitting the highest level since that 2014 surprise from the boj's governor. were seeing the strength now. this is one way to explain it. the idea that the yen is a safe heaven doesn't make sense and's global data has been on the ok side. talking about how this correlates to bond yields, negative rates have given rise to negative yields to a lot of maturities. if you take a look at the spread when it comes to u.s.-japan real inflation-adjusted yields, analysts saying japanese government bonds look a lot more attractive in terms of this. if this shrinking yield gap tracks alongside the surgeon the yen, if that continues to take place, then this is basically essentially discouraging the export of capital. that will resort -- result in further pressure on the dollar. the question is how much more can authorities the tolerating, a little bit more is the answer. we have the g-7 summit next month, and a lot of analysts saying there is no political appetite for intervention ahead of that. they want to be seen to keep the currency stable. having said that, government officials essentially saying that if we will see further one-sided moves in the yen, that intervention will happen. bloomberg poll of 14 economists suggesting if the yen falls -- goes above 100, that's when you will see action from japanese authorities to get it down again. rishaad: thank you very much indeed for that. strategist,ment great to see you. what you making of what is happening here? howoes seem a bit bizarre were seeing this yen strength and where it is coming from. yeah, i suppose when we were coming into the year, we were arguing they yen was one of the most undervalued currencies out there, so we did take a view that the yen would not weaken further, but i suppose the extent of the strength we are seeing has surprise party much everybody. a difficult time from a risk aspect, but there seems to be something more than that underlying this move, so the question people now ask themselves is how much further it can go. we are seeing some people, despite that undervalued nature, did use it as a funding vehicle, so they are scrambling to cover those positions now. that could lead us to a short-term leg lower, but we do think this is a temporary move. rishaad: how damaging do think it is for the economy there, and indeed, does it derail the whole abenomics program? to extendse if it was as a medium-term phenomenon, i think it would have a significant impact on the economic agenda and financial markets, including the equity market, pretty much moving in lockstep over the past couple of years. the yen weakness being positive for the japanese equity market, so yen strength is really hurting at the moment. it has taken a lot of people's confidence in abenomics and the underlying thesis behind holding japanese equities, including ourselves, because we all believe this is temporary, but weaker,going to push it i think people are struggling with that. we can see intervention, further monetary policy stimulus, but it does seem to be that people are running out of catalysts for pushing the yen much weaker from here. rishaad: call me naïve, but i was taught these markets eventually reflect fundamentals, so the yen should be significantly lower than where it is. >> well, it depends on which fundamentals you look at. if you look at the recent growth in inflation data, i suppose we would agree with you that pressure will increase for the authorities to loosen policy further, but if you look at the trade and current accounts, the yen does not look undervalued at all and could rally, so i think that is the tug-of-war going on at the moment. we have been in an interest-rate differential view of the world asr the past few years, and your analysis earlier highlighted, those questions should look at nominal yield differentials a real yield differentials in the but real yield differentials are not arguing for a week or yen at this stage either, so from that perspective i think we will see the dollar-yen test lower. the authorities may well let it go through the key support levels, but speculative longs in highs, so iat 2008 don't think it will take much to see a bottom and a sharp rebound and dollar-yen. the question is how sustainable that will be. rishaad: diminishing returns seemingly suggesting that the more you add monetary stimulus, the less impact it has, less bank for your buck, if you will. what should the boj do? should they just get the fiscal side in order? >> i think what were seeing here due tonishing returns incremental changes in policy. if you said we would see more negative interest rates or more quantitative easing, i think the impact of that is likely to be fairly limited. the big bazooka is if the central bank starts directly financing and writing off potentially government debt that it downs. that obvious he is a game changer. i think we are a long way from that, but it's too simple to say they have imaging returns from monetary policy, but you had increased returns much more dramatic action is required to really change the balance sheets of the government, and obviously we don't seem to be approaching the point at this time, but if we see a severe slowdown in growth and moved back into deflation, then the risk of that ultimately will increase. rishaad: great talking to you as ever. stories making headlines around the world. an investigation under way into of fire at a temple in southern india that killed more than 100 people. the complex was packed with pilgrims at the start of a religious festival. it's thought the blaze began when sparks from a pyrotechnics show ignited fireworks nearby. witnesses said one of the explosions was so powerful that it sent chunks of concrete flying a kilometer away. has begun releasing political prisoners jailed under the previous military backed government. local media said around 60 students were freed by a court. they were arrested a year ago after protests about education reform. aung san suu kyi announced the release program last week ahead of myanmar's new year celebration. spacex celebrating a double triumph, a resumption of flights to the international space station and the first successful landing of a rocket on a floating platform. ship carriedrgo supplies, while the booster defied strong wind the land in the atlantic. was ansk said it exciting moment, and president obama tweeted his congratulations. powered by over 2400 journalists and 150 bureaus around the world, this is bloomberg news. i am if on man. rishaad: coming up, one of china's taboo projects -- topics could be on the table for the g7. details, coming up. ♪ g7 leaders are likely to talk about the again when aey meet in japan to discuss host of geopolitical issues, including north korea and maritime disputes in the south china sea. tell me about your shema. -- here is shema >> there will be a number of ahead, one of 10 meetings of the big summit at the end of next month for the leaders of the g7 nations. these foreign leaders will be there to discuss the nuclear ,tation of the korean peninsula but also south china sea. the united states is leading that push to have that discussed. china's ambitions in the south china sea, obviously. china is not in the g7. rishaad: there are six claimants , and none of them will be there. >> but china is letting it be known that it is not happy with japan and the united states pushing this agenda, perhaps overshadowing some of the bigger issues. the foreign minister of china over the weekend saying, urging g7 nations not to hype the south china sea issue. they have a lot at stake, so does china. china has a ready built airstrips, radar installations, a lighthouse. it is basically laying its claim to that area. rishaad: thank you very much. take a look at some other stories making headlines. ada falling to its lowest in five years due to weak growth out of the asia-pacific. net income figures are down 27%, below expectations, $376 million. missingry retailer profit forecast in 11 out of the past 12 quarters. they say it is impossible to make earnings projections this year. alibaba's latest move, joining a buyout to reinvigorate moves by chinese companies to complete $39 billion of u.s. buyouts. tocompanies receiving offers the from american exchanges. just seven have completed that process. to the listde-list from american exchanges. india taking a big step towards digital banking with the unified payment interface, allowing money transfers through e-mails and text messages. the network is created by retail banks and backed up by the reserve bank of india. at this one, the number of tigers, some good news. the number of tigers in the wild has gone up for the first time than a century. the world wildlife fund and the global tiger forum say 3890 caps off been tallied an account from russia to vietnam. in 2010, the number of tigers hit a level of 3200. they say it's not that numbers are rising, but the counting system has improved. markets,ooking at austrian and new zealand, taking a look at what is going on. the asx 200 down half of 1%. , 269ng at the nikkei 225 points lower, big declines there, the yen said advance affecting those exporters and dragging them down. ,traight times index falling also the possibility of a negative start to the trading day and hong kong. , the latest indication of whether china's slowdown is showing any signs of easing. inflation figures are next. ♪ ♪ rishaad: looking at our top stories, asian pacific stocks down, chinese data coming out shortly. japanese shares extending two weeks of losses, the yen rallied six days, machine orders have dropped. profits down by 17% this year. the world's steepest drop behind italy. oil breaking through $40 a barrel in new york for the first time this month as concerns ease about a global glut. major producers meeting to discuss a production freeze this month, crude jumping 6.6% on friday. some analysts still warned that oil markets could recoil quickly. the u.s. wants to+++ maritime ambitions on the table of the g7 foreign ministers meeting in japan, the state department saying it should be discussed whenever the u.s. needs key allies. japan likely to agree to the request. tokyo has its own disputes with beijing. china says g7 ministers should not hype the issues. inflation numbers, cpi figures, let's go straight to beijing. we have those numbers. tom: it is below what the forecast were, 2.4%. the 2.3 percent for march matches february 2 .3% as well. we also have producer price index that has come in, down 4.3% in march, the forecast had been down to 4.6%, so a bit of strengthening their in the haducer price index, which been in deflationary cycle since early 2012. cpi, which is slightly lower than what was forecast, food prices have played an important role in that. food prices have spiked in the last month or so. bloomberg intelligence tracks those prices. pork prices are a very important component of the food basket, up 60% in the first quarter. we know as well that real estate prices have been rising, but this three point 3% slightly below the forecast, and that may give the people's bank of china a bit more room to continue that hadng bias here at analyst said that anything over 2.5%, that it may start to reduce expectations of further rate cuts for him the people's bank of china heading into 2016. we know the pboc has cut rates six times since the end of 2014. this 2.3% as well below the 3% target that the chinese government has set for itself on inflation for 2016, so it does give the pboc potentially a well toit more room as ease, and producer prices, interesting that they are arming up, still in deflationary cycle, down 4.3% in march, but those prices are starting to strengthen and have long deflationary ride for producing prices, but this could be a positive for the easing bias and the growth story here going forward. rishaad: thanks for that. breaking news out of australia, home loans missing, below the after as of 2% increase fall of almost 4% in january. just seeing how all this is playing out when it comes to the trading day and china. in australia -- >> very busy. let's have a look at the asx 200 , a very slight pickup. certainlyevel, but weakness across asia pacific markets. across asiaweakness pacific, with the exception of the japanese yen, which gives you a sense of the bigger picture and where risk appetite is. shanghai composite should be the only market in the green. off 1%, back off 3000. -- back over 3000. that gives you a sense of how as theat whole is economy continues to work out a lot of the excess capacity. we will get a further firming up of the data. relativelye renminbi flat compared to starting levels. of what is a sense happening across the broader markets. with the exception of shanghai and manila, it is a day for the bears. not just because of the equity markets, but the golden state warriors just tied the chicago bulls record, 72 wins. that game is wrapping up in san antonio. it is not a day for the bulls. rishaad: china bucking that trend. tata steel confirming that one of its divisions is under criminal investigations in the u.k. k, acting after an internal audit identified a lapse of procedures at speciality steals. where having a look at all this. what do we know here. this u.k. fraud office has been probing and investigating tata steel since december, after its own internal investigation found falsification of certificates. they were detailing the composition of products before they were sold. said they immediately stop these practices and suspended several personnel at the unit, and found this deal alwaysd and supplied was well within safety margins, but as you mentioned, the timing of this could not come at a worse moment because formal talks to xit it's u.k. business starts today. tata steel says oversupply, high cost, and the flood of cheap exports from china, has eroded profits among steelmakers worldwide. so far, the only perspective buyer is liberty house group. it's interested in buying its british processing offer asians. this move -- processing operations. this potential move could put 40,000 jobs at risk. rishaad: what about liberty house? it is complicated and difficult to carry through this deal because the executive chairman of liberty house says that i am not completely married to this deal. he told the telegraph that he would pull away from it if the government does not fulfill his terms. the jiggly he wants relief when it comes to high energy prices, also unlikely to take over the $700 million in pension deficits as well as pay off $1.4 billion to clean up the site. he says if we don't do it, then fine. just seeing how it all works out. let's have a look at some other stories we are following. india considering investing $20 billion in iran's energy industry. they are looking at exploration and construction opportunities there, while the government may boost imports. iran is looking to revive its fossil fuels industry after the lifting of sanctions this year. india buys 350,000 barrels of iranian crude daily. japan as a cautionary tale for finance ministers as they head to washington for meetings. the bank of japan's decision in january to take and just rates and negative has done nothing to curb a surging yen, but has hurt investor confidence. policymakers facing the risk of traction,osals fail it could cause inflation and weaker growth. to taxy seeking avoidance following the revelation in the panama papers. the european commission presenting proposals on tuesday setting out how it plans to force offshore tax havens into the open. multinational companies with revenue of $855 million will be the focus and could extend beyond the blocks 28 countries. the plans would need to be passed by the european euliament and by individual governments. lawmakers in hanoi have approved a new governor of the state bank of vietnam a day after he was nominated by the new prime minister. deputy governor and was number two in the communist party administration. the position is normally for five years. vietnam's new leaders facing a host of challenges, a crippling drought and the impact of cheap oil. the battle between apple and the fbi has put the balance between privacy and security in the spotlight. where do the world's intelligence services think the boundary lies between what is and is not acceptable. we put that question to the former head of britain's secret intelligence services. >> the challenge of cyber security, which is one where there is work to be done to establish a common approach internationally on what is acceptable cyber activity and what is clearly a threat to national security. early stages very of that. there's more work to be done on cyber security. in terms of intelligence gathering and surveillance, in the modern world, the most bible source of information is data. data can tell you communities or individuals that are threatening you. in an open that that we should be able to protect ourselves from people trying to exploit our openness to act as enemies of our society. the presumption should be privacy, that we go about our lives free of surveillance. no one i have ever met who worked for the security services wants to have mass surveillance. that is a complete fiction generated by certain privacy advocates. it is also very dangerous to have completely closed spaces, private spaces that are in penetrable, because that may give people certain -- comfort to go about their own lives, but it gives massive opportunities to enemies of society, whether criminals, terrorists, or whatever it is. they know there is no chance of being detected, then their behavior will become increasingly aggressive and irresponsible. up, a breakdown of the latest china inflation figures. our next guest says the economy is stuck in slowdown mode. ♪ >> welcome back. it is 9:43 a.m. in hong kong. these are the stories making headlines around the world. north korea says they have successfully tested a new engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile, one that would be capable of striking the united states. state tv aired pictures said to show leader kim jong un observing the test, and south korea says it is monitoring closely could. washington said a new antimissile system would definitely be deployed in south korea despite beijing's objections. plans have been unveiled for an new tower in to buy that would cost $1 billion and be even bigger than the world's tallest building. the tower will be "a notch taller than 828 meters." construction is scheduled to begin at the end of june and finish before dubai hosts the world expo. the new tower will have only 18-20 floors available for shopping or apartments. hasy pacquiao says he retired from pro boxing after his victory in las vegas and is ready to serve the people of the philippines. down timothyked bradley on the way to winning a unanimous decision. his running for the senate next month i'm a but poll numbers slursallen after anti-gay saw him dumped by nike. manny pacquiao earned $500 million and 66 professional fights with 58 wins. >> where are you now? >> i am here. >> are you retarded? -- are you retired? >> yes, i'm going back to the philippines to spend more time with my family and focus on serving the people. powered by over 2400 journalists and 150 bureaus around the world, this is bloomberg news. rishaad: well, let's get back to this data out of china. great to see you. pretty much in line. what does it tell us? >> there is lace deflationary pressures in the economy -- there is less deflationary pressures in the economy. they say that real rates should be measured based on gdp deflator. we are most likely to get out of this negative territory, and there is much less room for the pboc to cut rates. this is good for the currency and also means fiscal stimulus has to do more work to ensure that growth will reach targets, so expecting more easing, more issuance of the government, steeper yield curve. this would be the result of the data. rishaad: the cpi number again negative, when we get a positive ,ead, it could be months away that is going to be very good news because it will tell us that the excess capacity has been dealt with. yes, overcapacity is a key driving factor, but the reflects of inflation commodity prices if oil continues to rebound. we might get a positive number towards the end of the year. narrowed, and as it narrows further, profit margins of industrial enterprises will do better, and that is important for the stock market. rishaad: we are looking at the currency, growth, we get a reading on friday. it is interesting that the yuan has managed to stay stable against the dollar because it has been a function of dollar weakness more than anything else. >> dollar weakness has certainly helped. they still think in terms of basket measurement to agree, and therefore it is easier to be stronger against the u.s. currency. much of the rebound in the yuan happen because of a massive unwinding of long dollar positions in hedge funds. everybody wasn, super long the beginning of the year. those positions unwound. rishaad: your pricing and rate april?ut of the fed in impact, thatad an a lot of those hikes had been priced out. now nobody is sure whether they will move this year or not. the pbocoint is that has managed to intervene so heavily that they stabilize expectations of domestic businesses who were behind the capital outflow from china. as the situation stabilize, the market returned to balance, so that china story is bigger than the dollar story. regardless oft what happens to the dollar and the fed, china will appreciate. rishaad: you have had this price target since august. >> that's true. in long-term trends of balance of payments. we want to look through the short-term volatility of capital flows. when you project balance of payments, it seems that china will have a surplus this year after a deficit last year, more demand and supply, and so the renminbi needs to appreciate. we think this will happen not only this year, but until 2018. rishaad: the other part is growth. what is the target level, 6.5%? >> we think growth will stabilize at 6.7%. it does not matter exactly where the number it will be. it is important remain strong and in line with targets. the question is how critical will the data be. i don't think that actual growth differs much from what is reported. analyzed corporate results, revenues of companies soted offshore, s audited by foreign companies. their reported revenue growth is exactly in line with what the government says about gdp in china. for example, nominal gdp growth was 11.5%, exactly the revenue growth reported, so it is encouraging. there are troubling signs, are there not? times heonger lead four people pay their invoices. that causes a lot of disruption. >> the trouble is in the financial sector. when it comes to the financial sector, i am very concerned. i think chinese banks will elect lackllion dollars -- will $2 trillion in capital by 2020. massive recapitalization of the banking sector will be necessary. rishaad: and the debt balloons more? >> and the debt is rising rapidly. it is rising so fast that it requires more leverage. this debt is going bad, so the medium-term, china places a strong high risk of the banking sector losing sufficient capital they need to recapitalize. if they do it, fine. things will be ok. this is the biggest risk in the medium-term. rishaad: got it. always a pleasure. going driverless, the development of driverless vehicles is lifting profits for one japanese chipmaker. ♪ rishaad: this is "trending business". the growing interest in self driving vehicles is good news -- nippon soda ramik's nippon ceramics. the stock is up by more than 40% over the past three years. analysts expect profits to double by 2018. we are in tokyo, tell us about this product. it is dirt cheap, isn't it? >> it is very cheap. use ultrasonic technology, which is very mature, and the cost is very low. costs one dollar. it is reasonable to expect them to be among the first sensors to be widely used by carmakers. carmakers are adding more features to their vehicles, such as auto parking, and auto breaking features. the sensors are very useful. rishaad: what kind of demanded they expect for the sensors? thatey are expecting demand will double. this is the estimate by an industrial consultancy, demand will double over the next five years. autonomous driving is the biggest trend in the industry. all kinds of sensors will be in demand. other will pick up for sensors as well. rishaad: thank you very much indeed for that. joining us there from tokyo good let's have a look at what we're watching out for you in this part of the world to the course of the next two trading days. wednesday, south korea voting in parliamentary elections. this election is interesting theuse survey say that party is heading to the largest margin of victory in three decades. march unemployment figures out on thursday, the region's most unpredictable data. 300 jobs added in february and australia. we surveyed expect 18,500 jobs to be added. despite a range of government stimulus measures, the economy in china is expected to slow. rise 6.7% ondp to the year, the weakest since the global recession. flight, hour, taking 2015 all about drones. is there still room for growth? we look at that. ♪ rishaad: it is monday the 11th of april, this is "trending business." ♪ rishaad: i'm going to be take you to beijing, tokyo, and bangalore. we are watching the entrance marks. seeing the launch of the second bank of japan stimulus on a wider stage. the asia-pacific markets, a three-day winning streak. oil $20 a barrel, extending discussing freezing to give prices a boost. india launches a convenient -- a campaign for a network designed to make the movement of cash as easy as e-mail or text. let us know you think about the stories, follow us on twitter. davidget to the markets, bucking thehina regional trend to be lower. the yen continuing to march upward. here is david. david: for a seventh straight day, and that takes the daily gains for the japanese yen against u.s. currency to the longest streak since before the start of september 2012. clearly in 107, we felt a little to 10763.ll back -- 107.63. i'm not sure how analyst would look at that, but we have crucial support levels. the next one is that 38.2%. one of 7.26. dollar-yen, that is what it is doing. dollar is down 0.25%. looking at the recession in tokyo, 30 minutes left in the 6-10,g session, 15,000, the biggest pressure coming for the equity markets. fairly easy with equity data. we are offering inflation numbers out of china, that is pushing gains to 2%, but the site market fairly moves in tandem with the ground of the economy. asia is looking at this. -- looking at this. clearly, jakarta opening up at the moment. down 0.5%. talking about oil, briefly above $40 for one or two hours this morning, we are a little lower this morning -- now. it was higher than last week, and we get the cooling of stock prices of the oil related shares. the only dry spot across equities this monday morning. just seeing cpi at the moment. ,as an hour ago out of china this is an increase, in crude costs. tom mackenzie is here. what did the data tell us? tom: yeah, so the number came in at three point -- 2.3% in the march index. that was in line with the 2.3% from february. analystsy low, below estimates at 2.4%. rising food costs, food prices, when you break it down on the component by component basis, up 7.6% in march. that is the highest reading we have had on food prices since .arly 2012 so that has been a very big part of this. we know that pork prices alone are up 60% this quarter. we also got the producer price index, those declines in producers have eased off 4.3% in march from -4.9% in february. that was largely due to stronger commodity prices, pick up in the real estate market may have had some play as well. we have seen rises in the first tier city. it is a food price component of this marsh consumer price index that really is the focus today. and the question of whether or is 2.3% versus 2.4% gives the pboc more for the economic indicators. they are looking more and more healthy. rishaad: thank you for that. tom mackenzie. we have more on this story throughout the course of the program. tweet us. back to oil, above $40 a barrel. verse i'm this month, iraq -- first time this month, iraq putting out supplies. we are looking -- what is driving these price gains? >> there are a couple of things. at the fundamental, coming from the u.s., u.s. production is declining ever so slowly economically, down 10 of the past 11 weeks. and then incentives, talking about freezing output. the most important thing is the right party of the meeting, saudi arabia, russia, the right people at the table. talking about this. rishaad: along with iran boosting production, what is the strategy for iraq? it is only going to get weaker in the market. >> you look at that, and most of the revenue is derived oil. -- from oil. we have seen oil rise 6.2% this year. you make more money and take advantage of the price. you mentioned iran pumping at as much as they possibly can. instead, it will not cap out. iraq is a similar one. a port deal, it supports freezing, but it will not say if it will do it itself. that is going to be an interesting factor when all of these players get together and start thinking it pointing -- start finger-pointing. rishaad: we are going back to january levels when there was a glut anyway. >> freezing output really does not do anything. they need to cut output essentially. kuwait seems to think a deal can be done without iran, and saudi arabia says it will not do a deal with it, with the iran eight -- iran country involved. rishaad: thank you. breaking news, the world bank of east asia update in the bloomberg terminal. the world bank saying it is keeping china's 2016 gdp growth unchanged, 6.7%. looking at indonesia, it is tough. he mentioned 5.1% for the indonesian economy to grow. 4.4%alaysia hasn't cut to -- has been cut to 4.4%. looking at the whole of the region, they said developing east asia expecting growth to come in 6.3%. that is what we have at the moment. east asiao of the bank, we are talking to him at edge." t 11:00 on "asia merest possibly with a deal. newster: britain's daily is in talks with private equity firms about making up bid for yahoo!. the wall street journal says they could take the form of a partner buying out yahoo!'s main business while the mail takes over it news properties, or private equity firm that could acquire yahoos internet business and revenue company by merging the news and media properties with the e-mail operations. they have extended the deadline for the first round of offers to april 18. the company is exploring strategical alternatives, including selling the main internet operation. that is after scrapping a plan to's been off its stake in alibaba. google also rising. verizon plans to make a first-round bid for yahoo!'s web business this week. confirmed one of its units is under criminal investigation in the u.k. the serious fraud came after an internal audit is identified illegal procedures. they immediately stopped practices after the internal investigation and suspended a number of personnel. the kernel investigation comes will talk about talks on u.k. operations. to that liberty has group about starting a plan at the processing operations in the u.k. analysts say perspective buyers to raise concerns because of the liabilities arising from the investigation. now, apple's fight with the u.s. over privacy is not over just yet. authorities did drop to man's for the hacking of the san iphone,no shooter's but they are now saying they will keep fighting to get data offelp in getting of phones in new york that belong to a drug dealer. they say apple provided assistance in accessing such devices earlier, so the government is going ahead with an appeal. a public judge's order denying apple's help. they will prevail on appeal after u.s. investigators managed to crack the california phone. a judge in new york would likely be skeptical that they don't have a way to break into this other phone either. rishaad: thank you for that. coming up later on the show, hopping in the digital bandwagon. an ambitious plan to bring banking to more than one billion people. that is coming up next, and flying high in the market, the drones taking off. is there more regulation? we return in a couple of minutes areas ♪ rishaad: china's highflying drugmaker is at the forefront of consumer drone -- will be the consumer drone craze. 70% share of the global civilian drone market, since the dedicated started in shenzhen. we have the director of strategic partnership perry michael. you have brought in the phantom for. ourhis is the phantom 4, newest model. rishaad: talk about the capabilities, what is it used for? >> i am going to take off. you can see the system is really stable and slight. it allows creators and innovators to fly and capture their imaging needs without having to put to much effort specifically on the mechanics of flight. rishaad: so this essentially is a surveillance device, you could argue. what else does it do? >> it opens up on a daily basis. we see applications from firefighting to search-and-rescue. taking water up. rishaad: you must have a very big drone. >> it is a useful tool for firefighters getting them into a building. that lets them know where they can send in the firefighters more efficiently and save lives. rishaad: so this brings us nicely, people delivering, you can deliver orders, etc. to people's homes. >> there is a lot of speculation about the potential technology. let's open emagin beyond that. right now, this is a logistic situation to fly through warehouses, get immediate inventory and. all sorts of applications that are literally opening up on a daily basis. many of but you get so these, the craze continues, there will be regulations. we are seeing that come in, are we not? >> global regulators are on the same page as us. they want safe skies opened up to innovation. they see the potential for multibillion-dollar impact in the next few years. rishaad: so you are logging on with other competitors, apparent, three er, you are trying to do something about this with the u.s.. what policies do you want to institute? >> we think there is an opportunity to regulate this based on the actual risk it presents. drones, the category of two kilograms or lighter, definitely a different class than other drones that are regulated, 55 pounds or higher. we think they should be a different class of regulation that opens up potential to let more creators get potential technology into their hands and start innovating. rishaad: what series of funding are you at now? >> we have gone through two rounds of funding. the last round was with xl when we raised $25 million. rishaad: more than unit core, you are in the billions. muchre you selling and how you are generating? >> three to five times here on your revenue growth in 2009 two 2014, and we have seen growth of the sector growing accidentally over the next five years. rishaad: this means you get to stay ahead of the competition here. you use that money to stay ahead of the competition. what is the next big thing when it comes to this technology? .> there is so much going on one of the main things you are doing is investing in rmb. d. capabilities -- r and one of the key things is machine learning and computer vision. make the phone even smarter and easier to use and light. we have also invested in software development that opens up potential to program applications for a wide variety of industrial verticals talked about. rishaad: but it still brings me to the question, they have an accident? becomingchnology is smarter, pilots are becoming more controlled, and there is more possibility for these systems to fly intelligently and safely. rishaad: how much does this cost , and what is the other products and your industry? wide range of products from beginning consumer to high-end professional. this lies in the middle, a great first time drone, $1400. really geared to people that are passionate about aerial imaging. on the upper end of the spectrum, we have professional cemetery the tools used by cnn, discovery channel, abc, and others. rishaad: what is the timeline for an ipo, the exit strategy? >> we are fortunate to operate primarily off our own cash flow. down the line, we can look at other options, but right now we are happy. rishaad: let's have another demonstration before we wrap things up. it should start straightaway, there we go. >> you can see i took my hands off the control, and is hovering straight in place. rishaad: michael, thank you very much indeed. michael perry from dji. these are stories making headlines around the world. an investigation is underway at a fire in southern india that killed more than 100 people through the complex in south india was packed with pilgrims waiting the start of a religious and civil. shows from a pyrotechnic started with fireworks were being stored nearby. when of the exposures was so powerful is sent checks of concrete flying about of kilometer away. releasings begun political prisoners jailed under the previous military backed government. around 60 students were freed by a court in the center town. there had been arrested a year ago after protests about education reform. the democritus -- the democratic leaders said we are going to celebrate the new year. spacex is celebrating a double themph, flying to international space station, and this first successful landing on a cargo ship. they gave an inflatable room to the iss and they look -- they landed the rocket on a barge in the atlantic ocean. glad.usk was so this is bloomberg news. i am shery ahn. rishaad: still ahead, up for discussion. territorial admissions in the south tennessee taking center stage? ♪ ♪ you are back for "trending business." and the south china sea is on the agenda as the foreign ministers wrap up a two day meeting in hiroshima. this is ahead of the g-7 summit in japan at the end of next month. steve is here looking at the thing. beijing cannot be happy that the whole business of the south china sea is being effectively discussed behind their back. china is not in the g-7, and japan controlled this meeting as it is in japan. the u.s.-japan alliance is going to push this issue. pleased.china is not the prime minister mentioned, please, g-7, do not hide this issue. it will overshadow other issues like non-liberation issues. japan also sending a message by hosting this foreign ministers eating in hiroshima, 71 years ago, the bomb was dropped in hiroshima, essentially ending world war ii. we have live footage of the wreathsministers laying at the hero shema site or they will be pretty soon. -- zero shema site. kerry is the highest-ranking u.s. official to have visited this site after 71 years. rishaad: that is extraordinary. stephen: i did not know it. i was there on the 50th anniversary 21 years ago. a very powerful, moving place. a number of issues have been on the agenda. it goes through today. john kerry will be speaking later today, this afternoon, as well as the japanese foreign minister. they will talk about nuclear issues and that north korean missile test. dress attack, also ukraine and the middle east. attack, ukraine, the middle east. the easthem are in seven, but that does not mean they are not valid. china is asserting its strength in the south china sea, no doubt. it claims 81% of the disputed waters, and they built an airstrip, a lighthouse, radar installation. basically laying their claim by putting a footprint on many islands there. the other claimants, some of them are u.s. allies, not pleased. the u.s. aircraft carrier was sent over there. there are security issues. theaad: steve engle with g-7 meeting coming up next month and what is coming up in the south china sea as well. let's check on the stories making headlines out there, lawmakers in hanoi have a new government. this is a day after he was nominated by the new prime minister. he is called a leader. he is a former deputy government and was number two in the community -- communist administration. this after facing a host of challenges including agricultural protection, strolling with drought, and the impact of cheap oil as well. japan is providing a cautionary tale for central bankers and five finance ministers. -- and finance ministers. the bank of japan's decision in january to take interest rates negative has done nothing to curb the yen, but facing the risk that if the decisions failed to gain traction, they can relapse into two low inflation and even weaker growth. -- european commission going to propose on tuesday. they will tap how it plans to force offshore tax papers into the open. $855voice at least million, and this could extend beyond 58 countries. this has been passed by the european parliament and then individual eu governments. this is what it looks like across the asia pacific medical to the trading day. japan,ng, shanghai, getting reaction from inflation. pretty much in line with estimates, but shanghai was up in defiance of what is happening for the broader region. 1.5% up. hang seng 0.3 percent down, the strength of the yen playing on this one. the kospi is also down. this is the only other market up. 0.1%. getting back to japan, looking at this. the japanese yen, they agree on one thing, the threshold intervention is near. ♪ ♪ rishaad: a look at our top stories. , inese mainland stocks up signs of a pickup in industrial demands. buoyant prices remained thanks to surging food prices. cpi 2.3% from march. in japan,t story shares extending two weeks of losses. the yen breaking through 108 to the dollar, the strongest since the second round of want to take it easing began in 2014. machinery orders dropping in off by 17%.pix the only market which has done worse is italy. oil retreating slightly after breaking through $40 a barrel in new york, concerns about a global glut easing. to discusscers meet a production freeze, crude jumping 6.6% on friday. well, japan closing out it's morning session. reasonably steep falls in tokyo. that is where we are seeing the damage across equity markets in asia, a risk off session. some momentum early on has quickly reversed. stocks down half of 1%. down oneding declines, and a third of 1%. , analystson a website and strategists have started to become underweight on japanese equities. 2012, abe took power in every single month a lot of foreign funds coming in overweight. fact, let me get you a two your chart -- since the start of the year, a lot of foreign investors have pulled their money out of japan. to get a better sense of that, can we get the index back up? measures shows is that the amount of net inflows or outflows out of japanese stocks. picture, that gives you a inflows and outflows out of equities, bonds, and portfolios across the world. 12%, but it down print starting to form. yes, let's see with this goes. falling, not helping the case for japanese equities. we are pushing towards a new october 2014 low for dollar-yen. away from that, have a look at what is happening here, big movers across the region. s inof the bigger mover cuto, raising prices, now to neutral for alumina. petro china is a flagship listed unit, and speaking about oil, back below $40 for the moment. above $40.little rishaad: thanks a lot for that. right, a pickup in inflation in costs,own to rising food the cpi rising in march. it is just under what the thinking was. it could extend the pboc's easing pause. our chief correspondent is with me now. what should we be concentrating on? >> good morning. far on theates how consumer side china is from deflation. were seeing a stabilization and a pickup in prices, which is what you want to see in a slowing economy. is down to food prices, in particular pork prices. the bigger picture for china and consumer prices is we are seeing the same in a lot of big economies. rishaad: how important is that reduce or price negativity? >> this is an interesting number today. the first increase in september 2013. it is early days. you can't take this as a turning point, but maybe it shows that downward pressure on factory gates is easing off. that means moving towards ,ositive territory for prices important for investment, employment, and the wider deflation in china. rishaad: it would perhaps signal that we are getting rid of the inventory overhang and getting rid of excess supply. >> entirely. and of course if commodity prices bottom and oil prices the cpithat will slow story for china's factories. about the pboc, what are they looking at? what does it mean for them? t pressure onuy them to rise. keep the pboc a on's and put pressure on the government and let those -- the pboc on pause and put pressure on the government and let those authorities decide. rishaad: the currency markets, ,he yen hitting intraday lows surging to the highest since 2014, the longest winning streak before abenomics was implemented. all this is confounding currency strategists. there's one view that says we should be looking at the yen through the way that bond investors do, why? itdi: i think that part of is most strategist in the currency space have been struggling to explain this ascent in the japanese currency, certainly dimensional theory with suggested is a safe haven demand, but when you look at data globally, it has been steady, so that doesn't explain the highs we have been seeing. we are looking at highs we haven't seen since 2014. there is one way to look at it from morgan stanley, through the prism of bond yields. this is the diversions, the spread, between u.s. and japan real yield. essentially we are saying that even though ever since the bank of japan went into negative rates, maturities falling to negative territory as well in terms of yields. yields adjusted for inflation, japan is looking attractive compared to the u.s.. morgan stanley had of fx strategy in new york saying this essentially discourages the export of capital, putting further downside pressure on the dollar, upward pressure on the yen. it doesn't make sense why we are seeing the surgeon again, particular when you look at the fundamentals of japanese data. a lot of weakness, a lot of concern, that abenomics is not working. despite all the monetary easing, it has hit the limit of what the boj can do. we are seeing a stubbornly strong yen, so the inverse affect we have come to expect from abenomics. rishaad: what about the amount of pain that the policymakers are prepared to tolerate here? haidi: that's a very good question. the short answer is so far they would be willing to tolerate more. surveyest bloomberg consensus of 14 economist saying that we need to see the yen fall below 100 -- above 100, before we see intervention. shinzo are basing their will not be arbitrary intervention in the fx market. other saying that they are keeping a close eye on the fx market, but also the political implications. japan is hosting the g7 next month, and certainly they would not want to be seen intervening too much in the currency market ahead of that meeting. rishaad: thank you very much indeed. indeed, we've been asking our guests about their outlook when it comes to the yen. policy makers may step in if we get that 105 per dollar level. it will be very important as a level, below which potentially the chance of intervention will rise. corresponds to the calculation of purchasing power parity, therefore below that level, japan can justify the intervention. chiefd: we also asked investment strategist just how damaging it is to the overall economy in japan. >> i think it would have a significant impact on the economic agenda, and obviously on financial markets, including the equity market. they have been moving in lockstep over the past couple of years. yen weakness positive for that japanese equity market, so yen strength is hurting at the moment. it has shaken confidence in abenomics and the underlying thesis behind holding japanese equities. we all believe this is temporary, but what will push it sustainably weaker? i think people are struggling with that. it will be a key topic of discussion, possibly when g7 leaders meet next month. a chief economist says, no. >> i would not expect the yen to be a particular topic. the japanese have concern about the yen, but i don't know that others do. even at current levels, the yen is on the cheap side of long-term fair value. on that basis, the japanese are on their own. rishaad: that's the word from asia on the japanese yen. ,et's have a look at tata steel confirming that one of its divisions is under criminal investigation in britain. audit identified a lapse in procedures at speciality steel. formalmes at the time of talks regarding the sale of its unprofitable u.k. investments. >> it looks like things could be difficult for a quick sale moving forward. serious fraud office began the probe in december after tata steel's own internal investigation. staff were basically detailing the composition of the product before they were sold. to the practices after this investigation and suspended a number of personnel at the unit. they found the steel supplied was always well within the safety margins, but the timing of this is very crucial, because the formal talks to leave its u.k. business starts as early as today in the u.k. rising costs,ply, and rising still exports, which could cast a darker cloud on the u.k. steel industry, which some say is in a crisis, and so far liberty house group is the only prospective buyer on the table for its plant and the british refining and processing operations. the group backed away from this turnaround program that management was hoping to do, ontead of putting its assets the chopping block and putting 40,000 people's jobs at risk. this liberty house deal is by no means one which is signed, sealed, or remotely delivered. >> no, not in any way. we just heard from the liberty house executive chairman, and he could have more bargaining power as they start to have these talks. he said that he is not married to the deal and told the telegraph over the weekend that he could back away from it if the government does not fulfill the terms he wants to see. in particular, he wants a relief when it comes to high energy prices, also unlikely to take over this $700 million pension deficit, as well as paying what it cost to clean up the site, which is $1.4 billion, and so saying that if we don't do it, fine, but he is passionate about the overall deal. so we will see. rishaad: up next, had you get more than one billion people into digital payments when many of them have never even opened a bank account? a possible solution from india, right after this. ♪ >> welcome back. it is 10:45 a.m. in hong kong. these of the stories making headlines around the world. north korea has successfully tested a new engine for an intercontinental ballistic missile, one that would be capable of striking the united states. state tv aired pictures said to unow the leader kim jong monitoring the test. a newgton said antimissile system would definitely be deployed in south korea despite beijing's objections. plans have been unveiled for a new tower and dubai that will cost $1 billion and the even bigger than the world's tallest building. the tower will be "a notch 828 metern the tower." it aims to finish before dubai hosts the world expo in 2020. the new tower will have only 18-20 floors available for shops or apartments. says he hasao retired from pro boxing after his victory in las vegas, and he is ready to serve the people of the philippines. timothy knocked down bradley on the way to winning a unanimous decision. his running for the senate next month, but paul numbers have fallen 12 points after anti-gays letters that also saw him dumped i nike. manny pacquiao earned an estimated $500 million and 66 professional fights, with 58 wins. >> where are you now? >> i am here. >> are you retired? decision that the i'm going back to the philippines to spend more time with my family and focus to serve the people. >> powered by over 2400 journalists and 150 bureaus around the world, this is bloomberg news. i am shery ahn. the retailst getting sales numbers for march, 7.8% gain on the year here r. just to repeat that, retail order sales up 7.8% on the year and this is the number of cars being sold in china. what slow down, one could argue there. india as it look at tries to move its cash-based economy into the 21st century. retail banks have created a network for everyone to transfer money. let's get more from our india tech reporter in bangalore. what's going on exactly here? >> india has created a system where people can transfer money by the mere press of a mobile app. it is simpler for a lot of people in india who are not and may notrate have access to a bank branch. they can go out and transact, to do it through something as simple as a text message or e-mail. that is what is happening. rishaad: who is pushing this technology forward? >> it is a trade body by india's retail banks and backed by injuries reserve bank of india. by the reserve bank of india. rishaad: this as prime minister modi indicated he wanted every indian to open up a bank account, didn't he? most indians do not have bank accounts, and if they do, they do not operate it because they have a zero balance in their accounts. they live in remote areas where they do not have quick access to a bank. mobile andly on the can be validated by something as , a facialan iris scan recognition feature, or a fingerprint. this banking to the smartphone, bunch of to a whole people in india who might not have had access to banking. rishaad: thank you a lot for that. joining us there from bangalore. we go from bangalore to hiroshima. this is john kerry there, about to lay a wreath at the memorial for the first atomic bomb ever dropped. he will also be the focus of what is going on. he will not apparently, according to reports, apologize for the dropping of that atomic bomb by the u.s. at the end of world war ii, which killed 144,000 people. he arrived in hiroshima to attend a meeting of foreign the war indiscussing syria, the refugee crisis in europe, and the intentions and the south china sea and the sea of japan as well. that's the scene at the moment, live images from hiroshima, john kerry laying a wreath commemorating the death of those 140,000 people. and thele between apple fbi putting the balance between security and privacy in the spotlight. where do those who run the world's surveillance services think the boundary lies? we put that question to the former head of written's secret intelligence service, mi six. >> the challenge of cyber security, which is one where there is a lot of work to be done to establish a common approach internationally on what is acceptable cyber activity and what is clearly a threat to national security. we are at the very early stages of that. in terms of intelligence gathering and surveillance, in the modern world, by far the most viable source of information is data. great dealned your about communities or individuals that are threatening you. it is right that in an open that we should be able to protect ourselves from people trying to exploit our very openness to act as enemies of our societies. the presumption should be privacy. the presumption is we go about our lives free of surveillance. i have never met someone who works for the security service who wants mass surveillance. that is a complete fiction generated by certain privacy advocates, but it is also dangerous to have a completely closed spaces which are in penetrable, because that may give people certain comfort to go about their own lives, that gives massive opportunities to the enemies of societies, whether they are criminals, terrorists, or whatever it is. they know there is no chance of being detected, then their behavior will become increasingly aggressive and responsible. rishaad: right, more to come on bloomberg. you are watching "trending business". ♪ rishaad: the growing interest in self driving vehicles has got good news for one japanese chipmaker, nippon ceramics. the stock is up 40% over the last three years, analysts expecting profit to double by 2018. what else can you tell us about their products here? they use ultrasonic technology based sensors. the technologies are mature and costs are low, about one dollar per piece. those sensors are very useful for cars to detect obstacles within a short range, say five meters, so they are very useful for cars to auto park or auto brake when they detect an obstacle within that range. rishaad: very quickly, what sort of demand are they expecting here? right, the industrial , thertium expects systems demand, to double in the next five years, so sensors are quite big part of that, so they expect -- that.d: thank you for stay tuned now. "asia edge" coming up. ♪ rishaad: the heart of hong kong, the middle of the asian trading day and this is "asia edge." a look at our top stories, more as thens about abenomics yen sets a new intraday low. itsa is developing personality, or a tale of two -- a tale of two countries. crude rebounding from its lowest in more than 12 years. bank -- angie: world bank sees easing. table, the u.s. wants the south china sea discussed at the g7 summit. investigation, and inquiry by britain's fraud office. david: i am keeping my eye on what is happening with your money. weak start to the trading week. the good news we are off the lows of the day. we are seeing a lot of weakness