ECONOMY
On Wednesday, Asian Indices slipped giving up their small gains made the previous day, as investors tried to come to terms with a sharp shift in U.S. bond markets and the implications for the world’s top economy. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2%.
On Tuesday , Wall Street’s main indexes tallied solid gains but finished below their session highs in a reflection of the underlying concerns about the economic outlook.
The inversion spooked many investors as this phenomenon has preceded every U.S. recession over the past 50 years, triggering a dramatic selloff in stock markets across the globe late last week and a stampede into longer-dated U.S. government debt.
Many major economies in the world, including China, Europe and Japan, are already slowing down, not helped by uncertainties stemming from trade frictions between the U.S. and China as well as Brexit.
A senior International Monetary Fund official said trade tensions between the U.S. and China have caused huge amounts of economic uncertainty and could cut Asia’s economic growth by 0.9% point.
Prime Minister Theresa May will address her Conservative lawmakers, possibly to set out a timetable for her departure, to win support for her twice-rejected Brexit deal as the parliament prepares to vote on a variety of possible options.
India will launch $5 billion of transmission-line tenders in phases, beginning in June, to route a targeted 175 gigawatts (GW) of power from renewable sources into the country’s grid by 2022, the secretary at the ministry of renewable energy said.
CURRENCY
EM ASIA FX-Indonesia's rupiah weakens most followed by ringgit
The 10-year U.S. Treasuries yield inched up to 2.425 percent from Monday’s 15-month low of 2.377 percent, though the yield curve remained inverted, with three-month bills yielding 2.461 percent, more than 10-year bonds.
Ahead of the so-called indicative votes, the pound slip and trading at $1.3180.
The euro slipped to a two-week low of $1.1253 as the dollar gained some footing on a rebound in U.S. bond yields.
The dollar edged back to 110.50 yen, from Monday’s 1-1/2-month low of 109.70.
COMMODITY
Oil prices remained supported by supply curbs by the OPEC plus allies and as Venezuela’s main oil export port and four crude upgrades have been unable to resume operations following a massive power blackout.
On Wednesday , Brent oil was slip by 0.07%, at $67.48. On Tuesday, the global benchmark rose 76 cents to $67.97 a barrel, not far below its year-to-date high of $68.69, reached on March 21. U.S. crude futures up 0.12%, to $60.02. The U.S. benchmark rose $1.12, or 1.9 percent, to $59.94 a barrel in the previous session.
Malaysian palm oil futures fell for a third consecutive session on Tuesday on expectations of higher output in March.
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