Tag Archives: Asia

Bank of Japan Cuts Inflation Forecast, Maintains Record Stimulus

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“Japan’s central bank cut its inflation forecast and kept its unprecedented monetary easing unchanged as tumbling oil prices handicap efforts to reflate the world’s third-biggest economy.  The Bank of Japan will increase the monetary base at an annual pace of 80 trillion yen ($674 billion), it said in a statement Wednesday in Tokyo, as forecast by all 33 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The BOJ lowered its core inflation projection to 1 percent for the fiscal year starting in April, from 1.7 percent.  Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the drop in oil could delay inflation reaching the BOJ’s 2 percent target next fiscal year while economists see a risk of prices falling briefly this summer.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2015-01-21/bank-of-japan-cuts-price-forecast-maintains-record-stimulus.html

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North Korea’s No. 2 official visits South for rare talks at Asian Games

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“North Korea’s presumptive No. 2 led members of Pyongyang’s inner circle on a rare trip Saturday to South Korea for the close of the Asian Games, with the rivals holding their highest level face-to-face talks in five years.  After months of tensions, including a steady stream of insults between the divided neighbors and an unusual number of North Korean missile and rocket test firings, expectations for a breakthrough weren’t high, but even the visit itself was significant, allowing valuable contact between confidants of North Korea’s authoritarian leader and Seoul’s senior official for North Korean affairs.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/11140501/Senior-N-Korea-officials-to-make-rare-visit-to-South-to-attend-Asian-Games.html

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Japan economy shrinks more than expected in face of sales tax hike

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“The hit from an April sales tax hike turned out to be bigger than expected, the revised gross domestic product data indicated, underscoring the challenges Abe and the Bank of Japan face in pulling the world’s third-largest economy sustainably out of deflation.  An increase in Japan’s sales tax to 8 percent from 5 percent in April hit household spending and clouded the outlook for ‘Abenomics,’ a mix of aggressive monetary expansion, fiscal stimulus and structural reforms aimed at ending economic stagnation.  The BOJ’s massive stimulus, adopted in April last year and expanded in October, relies heavily on psychology to accelerate inflation to the bank’s 2 percent target.”

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/08/us-japan-economy-gdp-idUSKBN0JL0ZH20141208

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An enormous bitcoin mine went up in flames in Thailand

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“A large bitcoin mining facility in Thailand went up in flames this week, destroying the five-megawatt operation and disrupting the crypto-currency’s entire network.  Bitcoin is a digital currency that has no central bank or government backing it. Without any authority to print money, bitcoins are created through a process called ‘mining,’ which rewards networks of computers for solving complex puzzles that keep the network running. The more computing power, the more bitcoins that can be won, which is what this low-key farm in Thailand was designed to do.  Local media reported that the fire at the facility in Thailand, run by a group called Cowboyminers, raged for more than half an hour.”

http://qz.com/293418/an-enormous-bitcoin-mine-went-up-in-flames-affecting-the-entire-network/

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Bank of Japan Sails Further Into Uncharted Territory With ‘QQE’

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“Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda’s plan — branded ‘quantitative and qualitative monetary easing,’ or QQE, is radical not just for the quantity, but also for the ‘quality’ of the assets it’s soaking up in a bold campaign to end deflation. The BOJ, like the world’s other major central banks, buys assets from private holders as the primary mechanism for injecting money into the economy, because the traditional lever — cutting interest rates — has been neutered by the fact that rates are at or near zero in most advanced economies. But some — including Mr. Kuroda’s cautious predecessor, Masaaki Shirakawa, who avoided the purchase of longer-term debt — feel that’s a dangerous path.”

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/10/31/bank-of-japan-sails-further-into-uncharted-territory/

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Would you like being paid in gold? It’s possible… in Singapore

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“The fact that that being paid in gold likely sounds crazy to most of your friends and neighbors suggests something is seriously wrong with the western economy you live in.  But down in Singapore, one company is doing just that.  My friend Torgny Persson at Bullionstar now offers his employees the chance to be paid directly in gold, whether that means conveniently stored in their high-security vault or taking physical possession.  Bullionstar is the first company in Singapore – the world’s second freest economy – to pay its workers in gold, and the idea seems to be catching on.  It’s good news for gold lovers and for the future of emerging continents like Asia.”

http://nomadcapitalist.com/2014/11/12/being-paid-in-gold-singapore/

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Japan’s Pension Fund Cutting Local Bonds to Buy Equities

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“Japan’s public retirement-savings manager will put half its holdings in local and foreign stocks and start investing in alternative assets as the world’s biggest pension fund seeks higher returns.  The 127.3 trillion yen ($1.1 trillion) Government Pension Investment Fund set allocation targets of 25 percent each for Japanese and overseas equities, up from 12 percent each, it said at a briefing today in Tokyo. GPIF will reduce domestic bonds to 35 percent of assets from 60 percent.  The new allocations were released hours after the Bank of Japan unexpectedly added to monetary easing, sending the Nikkei 225 Stock Average to a seven-year high.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-31/japan-s-pension-fund-cutting-local-bonds-to-buy-equities.html

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Bank of Japan’s Kuroda’s Stunning, Doubled-Down QE ‘Experiment’

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“The unprecedented increase in ‘quantitative and qualitative monetary stimulus’ announced Friday, October 31, by Bank of Japan governor Kuroda Haruhiko is one of the most risky, if not reckless, and possibly disastrous actions in the history of world central banking. Japan is now conducting ‘a laboratory experiment’ and ‘Governor Kuroda’s monetary experiment has in effect morphed into a strategy of devaluation plus financial repression.’ [..] ‘it is well known that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who keeps a stock monitor in his offices, sees rising stock prices as critical to voter confidence in Abenomics and hence his own approval ratings.'”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenharner/2014/11/04/reactions-to-bojs-kurodas-stunning-doubled-down-qe-experiment/

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China begins direct convertibility to Asia’s #1 financial center, Singapore

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“The Chinese government announced that the renminbi will become directly convertible with the Singapore dollar… effective tomorrow morning.  It’s clear this deal has been in the works for a while, and it’s another major step towards the continued internationalization of the renminbi and unseating of the dollar as the world’s dominant reserve currency.  For decades the renminbi has been a tightly controlled currency. It’s only been in the last few years that the Chinese government started loosening those controls, primarily in response to the obvious need for a dollar competitor. China is taking the lead in providing the world with another option.”

http://www.sovereignman.com/trends/the-dollar-decline-continues-china-begins-direct-convertibility-to-asias-1-financial-center-15435/

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Swiss central bank opens Singapore branch [2013]

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“The Swiss National Bank opened its first overseas branch on Thursday, in Singapore, as it seeks to improve management of its huge foreign currency reserves, including more than $50 billion in Asian assets.  The SNB has accumulated over 430 billion Swiss francs ($445 billion) in foreign currency defending the 1.20 per euro cap it imposed on the Swiss franc in 2011.  The bank is looking to diversify these reserves, nearly half of which was in euros as of the first quarter of this year, partly by branching into Asian assets.  Designed to improve the round-the-clock management of the reserves, Jordan said the Singapore office will allow the bank’s traders to operate in a favourable time zone.”

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/11/snb-singapore-idUSL4N0FH0LO20130711

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