I feel Uncertain times, when we going up I feel is not always good !!.
Hope to be proved wrong !
"March 13 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks climbed, erasing yesterday’s losses, and the yen fell against all of its major peers before data forecast to show improving U.S. retail sales. New Zealand’s dollar rose as house and food prices increased.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rallied 0.8 percent as of 11:12 a.m. in Tokyo, climbing for the third time in four days. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 0.2 percent. The yen weakened 0.2 percent to 108.44 per euro and New Zealand’s dollar appreciated 0.4 percent to 82.16 U.S. cents. Oil traded near the lowest level in a week in New York.
U.S. retail sales rose 1.1 percent in February, the most in five months, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg, reducing the likelihood the Federal Reserve will add to stimulus measures today. The Bank of Japan is also forecast to keep policy unchanged today. European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said he was confident EU leaders would reach an agreement on increasing the size of its crisis- fighting funds this month.
“We’re starting to feel more confident and it’s going to be a good year, particularly in equities,” Kirk West, Sydney- based executive director of international investments at Principal Global Investors, manager of about $215 billion in assets, said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “‘In the U.S., it’s all about jobs. Jobs growth has continued and will ultimately lead to further consumption and that’s a virtuous cycle.”
About three shares advanced for every one that fell on MSCI’s Asian gauge. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.9 percent, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index was up 1.1 percent and South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.1 percent. A measure of financial companies posted the biggest increase among the MSCI index’s 10 industry groups, with National Australia Bank Ltd. rising 1.5 percent to A$23.695.
Greek Deal
“It seems like the Greek bond deal is going through; that issue is off the table, at least for the time being,” said Stephen Halmarick, Sydney-based head of investment markets research at Colonial First State Global Asset Management, which oversees about $150 billion. “I wouldn’t expect much out of the BOJ, and obviously people will wait and see what the Fed says.”
The EU’s Rehn said yesterday that the European Commission was ready to prepare a proposal on strengthening the so-called firewall against the debt crisis. While leaders had made “quite good progress” in taming the situation, the need remained for the EU to complete its crisis response plans, Rehn said in Brussels after a meeting of finance ministers.
Futures signal the S&P 500 may advance in U.S. trading today, after closing little changed yesterday. Treasury 10-year yields were little changed at 2.04 percent amid easing speculation the Fed will hint at additional asset purchases.
Fed, BOJ
The dollar was up 0.2 percent to $1.3180 per euro and traded at 82.32 yen, near a 10-month high. In Japan, 12 of 14 economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the BOJ to leave its asset-purchase program unchanged and keep the benchmark interest rate at a range of zero to 0.1 percent.
The so-called kiwi dollar halted two days of losses after the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand Inc.’s index of house prices rose 0.8 percent to 3,280.5 last month, according to an e-mailed statement released today. Separately, the statistics bureau said February food prices increased 0.6 percent from the previous month.
Oil traded at $106.87 a barrel in New York before a U.S. government report tomorrow that may show crude stockpiles are at the highest level in six months. Prices are “high” because of international political tension and should be lower, oil ministers from Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Angola said at a conference in Kuwait yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Shiyin Chen in Singapore at schen37@bloomberg.net
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Steven Morris CA (SA)
Mobie : 083 943 1858
Fax: 086 671 2498
E-Mail: steven@global.co.za
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