Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Yen extends gain against dollar; Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda tells parliamentary committee it is possible to lower negative rate more if needed, desirable for currency to move in stable manner; nation to spend about 80% of public works money in first half of this fiscal year: Finance Minister Aso.

• Yuan rises after central bank lowers reference rate for first time in a week; room for further monetary expansion is becoming more limited, near-term growth outlook has improved, central bank adviser Huang Yiping says; one-in- three chance of cut to China rating within two years: S&P’s Tan
• Australia’s sovereign bonds rally across the curve; trade deficit widened to A$3.4b in February from revised A$3.2b in January; median estimate was for A$2.5b shortfall; RBA will leave benchmark rate unchanged at 2.0% today, according to all 26 economists surveyed by Bloomberg; see preview here
• Kiwi falls for fourth day against dollar; New Zealand’s ANZ commodity price index dropped 1.3% on-month in March after revised 0.5% gain in February
• U.S. Treasuries advance, with yield on 10-year bonds down 2 bps to 1.743% in Asian trading; data today will show U.S. trade deficit widened to $46.2b in February, biggest in six months, according to median estimate of economists in Bloomberg survey
• Won falls; South Korea’s foreign reserves rose to $370b at end-March, highest since July; central government debt totaled 556.5t won ($482b) at end-2015: Finance Ministry
• Baht falls; Thai central bank is ready to use policy tools, according to March 23 policy meeting minutes
• Peso weakens for second day; Philippines inflation rose 1.1% from year earlier in March, matching median estimate and after 0.9% gain in February
• Taiwan markets are closed for holiday