~ shares weaker, Yen strengthens; China posts trade surplus of surprise

-(JP), the BANK OF JAPAN (YOU 'RE) LEAVES RATE UNCHANGED TARGET RANGE BETWEEN 0.0% TO 0.10%, AS EXPECTED >-(CN) CHINA MAR TRADE BALANCE: + $ 5.4 (B) (V)-$ 3.2 BE; Q1 $ 670M v-$ 1.0 B y/y
-(AU) AUSTRALIA MAR NAB BUSINESS CONFIDENCE: 3 V 1 PRIOR; BUSINESS CONDITIONS: 4 V 3 PRIOR
-(AU) AUSTRALIA MAR ANZ JOB ADVERTISEMENTS (M/M): 1.0% V 3.3% PRIOR (3-month low; 3rd consecutive m/m increase) >-(AU) AUSTRALIA AIG PERFORMANCE OF CONSTRUCTION INDEX: 36.2 V 35.6 PRIOR (first rise in 3 months; 22nd month of contraction)
-(ID) INDONESIA FEB M2 MONEY SUPPLY Y/Y: 17.7% V 17.2% PRIOR
-(A) MALAYSIA FEB INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION Y/Y: 7.5% V 5.0% E; MANUFACTURING SALES VALUE Y/Y: 10.5% V 4.1% PRIOR
-(A) MALAYSIA FEB TRADE BALANCE (MYR): 10.6 B V 10.2 BE
-(UK) UK MAR LLOYDS EMPLOYMENT CONFIDENCE INDEX:-58 V-69 PRIOR
-(UK) UK MAR RICS HOUSE PRICE BALANCE:-10% V-13% (E)
-(CO) Colombia Mar Producer Price Index M/M:-0.2% v, 0.1% of the prior; Y/Y: 1.6% v 2.7% prior
-(CO) Colombia Feb Exports: $ 4.8 (B) v $ 4.7 (B) prior

*** Markets Snapshot (as of 04: 30GMT) ***
-Nikkei225 + 0.2%
-& P/ASX-0.7%
-Kospi was 0.4%
-Taiwan Taiex + 0.1%
-The Singapore Straits Times + 0.2%
Shanghai Composite-1.0%
-Hang Seng-1.1%
-& P Futures + 0.1% at 1,376
-June gold + 0.6% at $ 1,653/oz
-May Crude-0.4% at $ 102.33

*** Overview/Top Headlines ***
Asian markets were mixed with currencies little changed in the session. Most notable was the USD/JPY down 0.3% or about 30 pips to ¥ 81.28 after the Bank of Japan in a unanimous vote left rates unchanged and agreed to not announce any new monetary easing measures. The're also kept their economic assessment unchanged. You're reiterated that the y/y, rate of change in the CPI is unchanged and that they will pursue powerful monetary easing to combat deflation. EUR/JPY dipped to ¥ 106.56. China recorded a surprise trade surplus series in March of $ 5.35 (B) against a forecast for a deficit of $ 3.2 (B). Exports came in above expectations while imports were much lower than the 9.0% expected at 5.3%. While positive overall the lower imports indicate that demand may be weaker than initially thought, though the behavior should ease some fears of a hard landing. China Customs Bureau head Zheng said that the March trade data shows that the global situation remains "grim" and that the 2012 trade behavior likely to shrink vs. 2011. The AUD/USD jumped higher on the news to session highs of $ 1.0358 before falling back to $ 1.03. Markets will now look to Friday's release of China Q1 GDP data. Fed Chairman Bernanke said that financial stability mission is as important as monetary policy; The Fed no longer has the same tools to counter money fund problems. Economy is still far from recovering from the financial crisis. Fed's emergency lending power has not been seriously weakened.

*** Speakers/Geopolitical/In the press ***
-(CN) China State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE): China Reiterates will ", then" promote convertibility of the yuan-Chinese press
-(BR) Brazil Central Bank Tombini: Expects stronger growth in H2 v H1; SELIC rate target likely to drop this slightly above the record low
-(JP) Japan Fin Min Azumi: Welcomes opposition LDP's policy goal is to double the sales tax; LDP's plan shows 10% hike in sales tax is unavoidable >-(AU) Australia is close to breaching its A $ 250B debt ceiling less than a year after raising it to the new cap due to a larger than expected deficit-The Australian
-(CN), According to the China Securities Journal March new yuan loans may be CNY900B v CNY798Be with Q1 loans totaling CNY 2.35 T v CNY 2.4 T target

** * Equities * **
-THE DAP.AU: Has received offers for JV on non-producing uranium assets
-WPL.AU: Will delay final Browse decision; Was given approval to amendments to the Browse Basin retention leases
-SMI, 981. HK: Raises Q1 Rev guidance + 14-15% q/q (implies $ 330.1-333.0 M) from + 7-9% y/y, prior
-AUN.AU: ACCC approves deal with Foxtel; Deal unlikely to substantially lessen competition

*** US Equities ***
-VVUS: Receives Notification of Qnexa (R) PDUFA Date Extension, delaying the new drug application (NDA) review by three months; -8.5% after hours
-HLIT: Reports prelim Q1 $-0.02.tar.bz2-$ 0.09, 0.03 v e $ 125-128 m v $ 137Me ($ 132-142M prior guidance); -4.0% after hours

*** FX/Fixed Income/Commodities ***
-(TW) Taiwan sells TWD40B vs. TWD40B indicated in 5-Year Bonds; Programmable Yield%
-Various container shipping firms plan to raise rates for routes between the US and Asia to $ 50-100/TEU-US financial press
-(AU) Newcastle Coal Exports in the week ended April 9th w/in: + 4.0
-(AU) Export from Australia's larger bulk commodity ports show a huge improvement y/y in Q1 despite heavy industrial action impacting the iron ore and coal sectors-the Australian Financial Review

The price of gold takes some traders by Surprise OpenBook

 Yesterday, the Chinese Government has revised its economic growth of 8.0%, with Wen Jiabo, the Chinese Premier, citing inflationary pressure and the concerns of global growth as the reason for the downward revision of forecasts of 7.5% in 2012. According to Wen, the Government intends to reduce its dependence on capital foreign and external spending and increase its efforts to increase consumer demand. With a decline of the Aussie Kiwi Dollars, gold fell below $1700 an ounce. On OpenBook, a sense of gold investors is strongly upward. A number of traders of gold of OpenBook caught flat by the news of China.One of those who won was OpenBook trader greggson5; This Trader had a return of 4.4% on an allocation of 77.7% of gold, in the six months, but several long positions opened just before the dip of gold are now in red and the 1735.00 target. But as the trader on his wall, are not all commerce will be a winner, and he appreciated these copiers that stick by him even.
Get the most from the drop in prices was OpenBook guru pipsfx, which identified an opportunity and bought gold that he dived to 1698.15 and later closed to 1703.85 19% return. Two positions of long open later are now in territory negative but only need a small gathering to make a profit. Javiviveloz guru of gold was at the top of the situation, closing four short positions, as fall began, ultimately capture average 8% return. This Guru has since added to its existing long positions expected that uptrend will resume.
As analysts stressed repeatedly and repeatedly, not only are the underlying fundamental principles that support the price of gold still in play, but the recent drop in price $100 a physical gold even more attractive to speculators. And despite the news of China yesterday, the country is still on track to become the largest purchaser of the world by the end of the year.

Euro-area PMIs Surprise, but Swiss PMI Disappoints – Is an SNB Intervention Ahead?

In the broader Eurozone area, the earlier release of Purchasing Managers’ Indices for January offered investors a few surprises, most welcome but one decidedly not. In the United Kingdom, the Office of National Statistics read for January’s manufacturing PMI was reported higher at 52.1 from a revised reading of 49.7 and besting the consensus forecast of a reading of 49.8. The GBP/USD pair is trading just under the opening price at 1.5754 and sentiment on OpenBook has turned bearish. Trader kercado closed a long position ahead of the announcement to a 14% gain.
Eurostat reported that the PMI for the EMU area rose to 51.0, above the threshold which delineates expansion from contraction. A consensus of analysts had expected the reading to improve to 50.9 from the revised December reading of 49.7. Germany also showed an improvement in its manufacturing PMI data, though to a lesser extent than the EMU; the reading for January improved to 48.8 from 46.9, only fractionally better than the 48.7 consensus forecast.
The better than expected numbers gave the ever-resilient Euro yet another lift, boosting it from its earlier doldrums; the EUR/USD pair is currently trading higher at 1.3139. A glance at the OpenBook Traders’ Feed revealed one OpenBook trader who profited well on the news; trader hanamiman closed several longs earlier today, the most recent of which recorded a gain of 188%. This trader is still striving to post a positive return for the week but today’s gains should help toward that effort. Meanwhile, slow and steady generally wins the race, and guru Gavinwright closed out a handful of long positions with smallish gains to add to his 97.2% win ratio.
Finally, in Switzerland, the SVME posted the January reading for manufacturing PMI which showed a decline to 47.3 from the downwardly revised December reading of 49.1. The consensus call was for an improvement to 51.0. The EUR/CHF is currently higher at 1.2043, and on the OpenBook, traders are speculating about a possible SNB intervention; guru sadiqashanaz97 believes it could happen anytime now and has several open positions in the EUR/CHF pair just needing an SNB announcement to bring them around to gains.

Euro-area PMIs Surprise, but Swiss PMI Disappoints – Is an SNB Intervention Ahead?

 In the broader Eurozone area, the earlier release of Purchasing Managers’ Indices for January offered investors a few surprises, most welcome but one decidedly not. In the United Kingdom, the Office of National Statistics read for January’s manufacturing PMI was reported higher at 52.1 from a revised reading of 49.7 and besting the consensus forecast of a reading of 49.8. The GBP/USD pair is trading just under the opening price at 1.5754 and sentiment on OpenBook has turned bearish. Trader kercado closed a long position ahead of the announcement to a 14% gain.

Eurostat reported that the PMI for the EMU area rose to 51.0, above the threshold which delineates expansion from contraction. A consensus of analysts had expected the reading to improve to 50.9 from the revised December reading of 49.7. Germany also showed an improvement in its manufacturing PMI data, though to a lesser extent than the EMU; the reading for January improved to 48.8 from 46.9, only fractionally better than the 48.7 consensus forecast.

The better than expected numbers gave the ever-resilient Euro yet another lift, boosting it from its earlier doldrums; the EUR/USD pair is currently trading higher at 1.3139. A glance at the OpenBook Traders’ Feed revealed one OpenBook trader who profited well on the news; trader hanamiman closed several longs earlier today, the most recent of which recorded a gain of 188%. This trader is still striving to post a positive return for the week but today’s gains should help toward that effort. Meanwhile, slow and steady generally wins the race, and guru Gavinwright closed out a handful of long positions with smallish gains to add to his 97.2% win ratio.

Finally, in Switzerland, the SVME posted the January reading for manufacturing PMI which showed a decline to 47.3 from the downwardly revised December reading of 49.1. The consensus call was for an improvement to 51.0. The EUR/CHF is currently higher at 1.2043, and on the OpenBook, traders are speculating about a possible SNB intervention; guru sadiqashanaz97 believes it could happen anytime now and has several open positions in the EUR/CHF pair just needing an SNB announcement to bring them around to gains.