Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- South Korea’s won and Malaysia’s ringgit lead most Asian currencies lower as Dollar Index climbs; sovereign bonds advance in Japan and interest-rate swaps rise in Singapore.

• Yuan weakens; China’s aggregate financing rose to 3.42t yuan ($525b) in January, more than median estimate 2.2t yuan; new loans rose to 2.51t yuan versus median forecast 1.9t yuan; M2 money supply increased 14% from year earlier, beating 13.5% estimate
  • China will take decisive action when necessary as global economic headwinds and equity market routs create great challenges and new uncertainties, Premier Li says at State Council meeting Monday, according to Beijing News; government may release package of monetary, fiscal, tax and M&A policies: Economic Information Daily
• Aussie strengthens against dollar; Reserve Bank of Australia sees low inflation providing scope to ease if appropriate, growth increasing gradually, according to minutes of February meeting
• Won drops; Bank of Korea kept benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.5% as expected; says domestic economy will continue to recover, supported by domestic demand, but external uncertainties have increased
• Japan’s 10-year bonds rise on the first day negative interest rates are applied; Bank of Japan Governor Kuroda says he expects negative rates to have positive impact, central bank aims to lower yield curve
• Kiwi falls; New Zealand 2-year inflation expectations slid to 1.63% in first quarter from 1.85% in previous quarter; retail sales increased 1.2% in fourth quarter, lower than median estimate for 1.5% gain; Finance Minister English says government has fiscal flexibility, budget will be delivered on May 26
• U.S. Treasuries slide, with yield on 10-year bonds rising 4 bps to 1.790% in Asian trading; Empire State manufacturing index may show reading of -10.50 for February versus -19.37 in January: Bloomberg survey
• Taiwan dollar climbs; island’s exports probably fell 14.5% in January from year earlier following 13.9% decline in December; imports seen falling 14.4%, leaving trade surplus of $4.32b, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg before data today

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