To read the full report, data and graphs go to http://www.asianbondsonline.adb.org/newsletters/abowdh20140331.pdf?src=newsletter&id=uWidK3KdmgXVUWes9IgIcqKp1miwxx
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News Highlights - Week of 24 - 28 March 2014
The Republic of Korea's real gross domestic product (GDP)
growth accelerated to 3.0% in 2013 from 2.3% in 2012, based on preliminary
estimates from The Bank of Korea released last week. Annual real GDP growth in
2013 was bolstered by stronger growth in gross fixed capital formation on the
expenditure side and by agriculture, forestry, and fishing; manufacturing; construction; and services on
the production side. On a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis, real GDP growth climbed
to 3.7% in 4Q13 from 3.4% in 3Q13. Meanwhile, the Fiscal Policy Office of the
Ministry of Finance in Thailand announced last week that it expects the
domestic economy to grow 2.6% in 2014, a downward revision from its earlier
projection of 4.0% announced in December.
* Industrial
production in the Republic of Korea was down 1.8% month-on-month (m-o-m), but
up 4.3% y-o-y, in February. In Singapore, manufacturing output grew 12.8% y-o-y
in February, following revised growth of 4.4% in the previous month, mainly
driven by the biomedical manufacturing sector, which grew 19.3%. Thailand's
manufacturing activity continued to weaken as the manufacturing production
index fell 4.4% y-o-y in February.
* Hong Kong,
China's exports fell 1.3% y-o-y in February while imports rose 6.8%. As a
result, the trade deficit rose to HKD53.7 billion in February from HKD34.0
billion in the same period last year. The Philippines' trade deficit nearly
doubled to US$1.4 billion in January from US$0.7 billion a year earlier as
y-o-y growth in imports exceeded that for exports. Total exports rose 9.3% to
US$4.4 billion, while imports increased 21.8% to US$5.8 billion.
* Singapore's
consumer price inflation eased to 0.4% y-o-y in February from 1.4% in January.
In Viet Nam, consumer price inflation eased to 4.4% y-o-y in March-the slowest
pace since November 2009-from 4.7% in February. In Japan, consumer price
inflation in February slightly increased to 1.5% y-o-y from 1.4% in the
previous month.
* The Monetary
Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) decided to keep its key policy
rates--the overnight borrowing and lending rates--steady at 3.5% and 5.5%,
respectively. The reverse repurchase rate, repurchase rate, and BSP's special
deposit account facility were also kept steady. Meanwhile, the reserve
requirement was raised by 1 percentage point to 19.0% effective 4 April 2014.
* Fitch Ratings
last week affirmed the long-term foreign currency (FCY) and local currency
(LCY) issuer default ratings of the Philippines at BBB- and BBB, respectively,
with a stable outlook for both. The rating agency also affirmed the
Philippines' senior unsecured FCY and LCY bonds at BBB- and BBB, respectively.
* LCY corporate
debt issues in the Republic of Korea amounted to KRW8.6 trillion in February,
up 1.6% m-o-m, based on the Financial Supervisory Service report released last
week.
* Government
bond yields fell last week for most tenors in Indonesia, the Republic of Korea,
Thailand and Viet Nam, while yields rose for most tenors in Malaysia and the
Philippines. Yield movements were mixed in the PRC; Hong Kong, China and
Singapore. Yield spreads between 2- and 10-year tenors widened in the PRC,
while spreads narrowed in the rest of the emerging East Asian markets.
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