Asian Summary on 27032009

Stocks mixed, off their early peaks, but overall it was a more encouraging week for equities; auto and tech stocks rose, plus there was some further quarter and fiscal year-end buying noted. Nikkei off just 0.1%, Kospi off 0.5%, Taiwan +0.1%, Aussie shares +0.7%, Shanghai Composite +0.7%, HSI off 0.5%, STI down 0.9%.

FX majors fairly well behaved with some JPY-buying related to end-year repatriation; USD/JPY at 98.14 late, EUR/JPY at 133.36, EUR/USD 1.3585.

Japan Feb core CPI flat Y/Y vs 0.1% fall tipped, overall CPI down 0.1% Y/Y, down 0.3% M/M; Tokyo area March core CPI +0.4% Y/Y, as tipped, overall CPI +0.2% Y/Y, +0.3% M/M. Feb Japan retail sales down 5.8% Y/Y, sharpest fall since February 2002. Korea revised 4Q GDP showed 5.1% fall Q/Q vs 5.6% drop initially, 3.4% contraction Y/Y, same as first forecast. NZD ticked higher on data there: NZ 4Q GDP down 0.9% Q/Q vs revised 0.5% contraction in 3Q, biggest quarterly decline since September 1992, though slightly less than 1.0% contraction tipped; GDP down 1.9% Y/Y, in line with forecasts. February trade surplus NZ$489 million vs revised deficit of NZ$104 million in January, NZ$173 million gap tipped; mostly due to biggest slump in imports in 16 years. PBOC put out yet another essay which criticized the U.S. in runup to G20 meeting, focusing on what it deemed an insufficient financial regulatory system. Vietnam 2008 GDP grew 6.18%, vs 6.23% earlier estimate, with government tipping GDP +4.8%-5.6% this year, after estimating growth of 3.1% on-year in 1Q. May Nymex crude off 67 cents.(RXM)


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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 27, 2009 02:17 ET (06:17 GMT)

Asian Summary on 27032009

Stocks mixed, off their early peaks, but overall it was a more encouraging week for equities; auto and tech stocks rose, plus there was some further quarter and fiscal year-end buying noted. Nikkei off just 0.1%, Kospi off 0.5%, Taiwan +0.1%, Aussie shares +0.7%, Shanghai Composite +0.7%, HSI off 0.5%, STI down 0.9%.

FX majors fairly well behaved with some JPY-buying related to end-year repatriation; USD/JPY at 98.14 late, EUR/JPY at 133.36, EUR/USD 1.3585.

Japan Feb core CPI flat Y/Y vs 0.1% fall tipped, overall CPI down 0.1% Y/Y, down 0.3% M/M; Tokyo area March core CPI +0.4% Y/Y, as tipped, overall CPI +0.2% Y/Y, +0.3% M/M. Feb Japan retail sales down 5.8% Y/Y, sharpest fall since February 2002. Korea revised 4Q GDP showed 5.1% fall Q/Q vs 5.6% drop initially, 3.4% contraction Y/Y, same as first forecast. NZD ticked higher on data there: NZ 4Q GDP down 0.9% Q/Q vs revised 0.5% contraction in 3Q, biggest quarterly decline since September 1992, though slightly less than 1.0% contraction tipped; GDP down 1.9% Y/Y, in line with forecasts. February trade surplus NZ$489 million vs revised deficit of NZ$104 million in January, NZ$173 million gap tipped; mostly due to biggest slump in imports in 16 years. PBOC put out yet another essay which criticized the U.S. in runup to G20 meeting, focusing on what it deemed an insufficient financial regulatory system. Vietnam 2008 GDP grew 6.18%, vs 6.23% earlier estimate, with government tipping GDP +4.8%-5.6% this year, after estimating growth of 3.1% on-year in 1Q. May Nymex crude off 67 cents.(RXM)


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MarketTalk@dowjones.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 27, 2009 02:17 ET (06:17 GMT)

Germany's Merkel Says NATO Must Succeed In Afghanistan

BERLIN (AFP)--German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization must succeed in Afghanistan to ensure that the
country does not become a base again for "terrorists" to attack the alliance's
members.

"Afghanistan is NATO's biggest test at present," Merkel said in a speech to
parliament ahead of the alliance's 60th anniversary summit in Strasbourg,
France and the German towns of Baden-Baden and Kehl on April 3-4.

"For me our aim remains clear, against which our success will be measured,
that Afghanistan no longer poses a terrorist threat to our security, in other
words in NATO member countries. That is our aim," Merkel said.

"We should remember that Afghanistan ... was the base for the attacks of
September 11, 2001. This was possible because there was no functioning state,
and that was the reason for our engagement in Afghanistan, because it
threatened our security, the members of NATO."

Germany has about 3,500 troops in Afghanistan, one of 41 nations forming the
60,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. The German
parliament voted last year to increase this to 4,500. The U.S. also has a
further 10,000 soldiers there not under NATO command.

Next week's summit is expected to see Barack Obama in his first visit to
Europe since becoming U.S. President in January press allies in the alliance,
Germany included, to do more in Afghanistan.

Germany's troops are based in the relatively peaceful north of Afghanistan -
14 of its soldiers have been killed there in attacks - but Merkel reiterated
that her country is pulling its weight in terms of police support and civilian
reconstruction work.

"We can be satisfied with our performance," she said.

She also welcomed Obama's moves to develop a joined-up strategy for both
Afghanistan and Pakistan, but stressed that there can be no talks with those
"not interested in reconstruction."

WORLD FOREX: Dlr Rises, Euro Mixed As Risk Appetite Improves

The dollar is mostly higher in Europe Thursday as risk
appetite improves a little and concerns about U.S. Treasury policy towards the
currency subside.

The rise in risk appetite was illustrated in a rally by the euro against the
yen, with equity markets showing some further strength.

Market sentiment was helped by data Wednesday showing that both U.S. durable
goods orders and new home orders had risen sharply, instead of continuing
their recent decline as the market had expected.

The fresh hope of economic recovery this injected into markets helped to lift
the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.5% and then the Nikkei Index in Japan 1.9%.

However, there was some sign this sentiment was faltering, with most European
bourses starting their trading slightly in the red Thursday.

Underlying these moves is the continued debate on just what U.S. Treasury
Secretary Tim Geithner hoped to achieve by saying Wednesday he was "quite open"
to Chinese suggestions of a move towards Special Drawing Right-linked currency
reserves.

The U.S. official quickly back-tracked, stating the dollar will remain the
global reserve currency for some time to come, and helped the dollar to recover
sharp losses it made on the original statement.

See chart at

http://www.dowjoneswebservices.com/chart/view/1777

However, analysts said the episode illustrated just how fragile dollar
sentiment remains to any suggestion foreign countries are in any way
considering reducing their dollar-denominated reserves.

An SDR-linked currency is likely to hold a much higher percentage of euros,
yen and sterling, rather than dollars.

The euro, meanwhile, was having a mixed day, helped by higher risk appetite
but hurt by news that German consumer confidence declined for the first time
since September 2008.

Although sterling had been doing well at the start, the release of data
showing a 1.9% drop in U.K. retail sales last month pushed it lower.

By 1020 GMT, the dollar had pushed ahead to Y98.16 from Y97.30 late Wednesday
in New York, according to EBS.

The euro was down at $1.3567 from $1.3587, but rose to Y133.24 from Y132.19.

The pound was up at $1.4567 from $1.4531, but it had been as high as $1.4633.

The dollar rose to CHF1.1263 from CHF1.1203, while the euro rose to CHF1.5285
from CHF1.5222. For the second day in a row, the euro has been pushed down
close to CHF1.5200 to see if this will trigger intervention by the Swiss
National Bank.

The Swiss central bank launched a surprise intervention exercise March 12
when the euro fell as far as CHF1.4800.

In Eastern Europe, the Hungarian forint was staging a technical bounce, with
the euro falling to HUF301.89 from HUF302.41.

The euro was also down at PLN4.5541 from PLN4.5819, but up a little at
CZK27.515 from CZK27.413.

-By Nicholas Hastings, Dow Jones Newswires; 44 20 7842 9493;
nick.hastings@dowjones.com TALK BACK: We invite readers to send us comments
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