By Jae Hur & Adam Haigh - Apr 10, 2013 10:41 AM GMT+0400
Asian shares climbed for a third day and European stock futures advanced on expectations of continued central bank stimulus by the world’s leading economies. The Australian dollar strengthened as Chinese imports rose, while copper prices fell.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) added 0.9 percent as of 7:38 a.m. in London, led by Japan’s Topix Index which added 1.7 percent and a 0.8 percent gain in South Korea’s Kospi. Euro Stoxx 50 Index futures rose 0.5 percent and Standard & Poor’s 500 Index contracts were little changed. The yen fell versus most major counterparts as the so-called Aussie rose for a third day. Copper sank 0.6 percent to $7,582.25 a metric ton.
A pedestrian looks at an electronic stock board outside a securities firm in Tokyo. Photographer: Junko Kimura/Bloomberg
April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Tohru Sasaki, Tokyo-based head of Japan rates and currency research at JPMorgan Chase & Co., talks about central bank monetary policy, the yen, and government bonds. He speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up." (Source: Bloomberg)
April 9 (Blooberg) -- Henrik Drusebjerg, a senior strategist at Nordea Bank AB, discusses the outlook for Asian equity markets, the European debt crisis and U.S. budget cuts. He speaks from Copenhagen with Manus Cranny on Bloomberg Television's "Countdown." (Source: Bloomberg)
April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Jessie Guo, head of Asia consumer equity at Jefferies Hong Kong Ltd., talks about the outlook for China's economy and stocks. China’s inflation eased last month from a 10-month-high as food-price gains ebbed. Guo speaks with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's "On the Move." (Guo spoke before China released the inflation data for March. Source: Bloomberg)
April 8 (Bloomberg) -- John Zhao, chief executive officer of private-equity company Hony Capital Ltd., talks about China's economy and his investment strategy. He speaks with Susan Li on Bloomberg Television's "First Up" from the BOAO Forum for Asia in Hainan, China. (Source: Bloomberg)
The Federal Reserve will release minutes today of its March meeting when policy makers left the pace of bond purchases unchanged. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that “bold monetary easing” will reverse persistent deflation in his nation. South Koreans braced for a possible missile or a nuclear weapons test from North Korea.
“The global economic recovery is gradually coming through and most of the big systemic risks are behind us,” Daphne Roth, Singapore-based head of Asia equity research at ABN Amro Private Bank, which oversees about $207 billion, said in a phone interview. “The cycle has become more normalized and it will be good for Asia as a whole. Central-bank policy makers have done their part and that’s good for equities.”
MSCI’s Asian gauge climbed in the past five months on speculation Japan would unleash more stimulus and amid signs the U.S. economy is recovering. Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda speaks at a Yomiuri newspaper event on April 12, following his decision last week to double monthly bond purchases to achieve 2 percent annual inflation in two years.
Fed Minutes
Japanese government bonds slid, with the yield on the five- year note rising to 0.28 percent, the highest in about a year. Abe said in parliament that the BOJ’s stimulus is boosting stock prices and weakening the yen, though Japan is not intentionally debasing its currency.
The Fed will release minutes of its last meeting when Chairman Ben S. Bernanke left the pace of government and mortgage debt purchases at $85 billion a month and said further improvement in the U.S. labor market is needed to consider reducing its monetary easing.
BHP, Billabong
The S&P 500 Index rose 0.4 percent yesterday on earnings optimism after Alcoa Inc., the first company in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) to release results this season, reported earnings that exceeded analysts’ estimates.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Wells Fargo & Co. and Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. are among S&P 500 companies scheduled to report earnings this week.
BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest miner, added 1.7 percent in Sydney. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Japan’s biggest listed bank, jumped 5 percent. Billabong International Ltd. (BBG) plunged 27 percent after the Australian surfwear maker said it will hold talks with a group led by Sycamore Partners Management over a A$287 million ($302 million) deal.
China’s exports increased 10 percent from a year earlier, the customs administration said today in Beijing. That compared with 21.8 percent growth in February and the 11.7 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Imports rose by an above-forecast 14.1 percent in March, leaving an unexpected trade deficit of $880 million.
North Threats
China is Australia’s biggest trading partner, and the Aussie dollar climbed 0.2 percent to $1.0509. Malaysia’s ringgit touched 3.0180 per U.S. dollar, the strongest level since Jan. 21.
South Korean stocks rose for a second day and the currency strengthened even as tensions with the North escalated. The won added 0.4 percent to 1,135.97 per dollar.
South Korean and U.S. forces upgraded their joint surveillance “Watchcon” status by one level to monitor an imminent ballistic missile test, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported, citing unidentified military officials.
North Korea’s threats are raising the odds of the first interest-rate cut by its southern neighbor since October as they threaten to damp sentiment in Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Eleven of 20 economists forecast the Bank of Korea will reduce borrowing costs tomorrow, according to a Bloomberg News survey.
Wheat Falls
The cost of insuring corporate and sovereign bonds in Asia against non-payment fell, according to traders of credit-default swaps. The Markit iTraxx Asia index of 40 investment-grade borrowers outside Japan declined 1 basis point to 116 basis points as of 8:10 a.m. in Hong Kong, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc prices show. The gauge is poised for its lowest close since March 19, according to data provider CMA.
Wheat declined 0.8 percent to $7.08 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. A U.S. Department of Agriculture report today that may show higher world inventories before 2013 harvests, boosted by bigger stockpiles in the U.S., the largest shipper.
Crude oil futures slipped as much as 0.5 percent to $93.77 per barrel in New York, heading for the first decline in three days, after the industry-funded American Petroleum Institute said inventories gained 5.1 million barrels last week.
To contact the reporters on this story: Jae Hur in Tokyo at jhur1@bloomberg.net; Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Rocky Swift at rswift5@bloomberg.net
