Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Asia This Day:Australia and Japan Outlook

Any talk of a currency war is overblown,said Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan.Market-based exchange rates,fiscal and monetary policy supporting economic growth and jobs is the G-20 approach.
Everyone else has a stake in the US achieving economic growth.What we really want to hear is certainty,not policy uncertainty and regulatory uncertainty.That's the climate we need.
David MacLemore,Chairman and Interim CEO of mineral exploration firm Boart Longyear said we're seeing some pricing pressure,but overall it's starting to stabilise and we're confident in the guidance.We're a global player with 30-35% of our business in Australia.
It's a general mining industry cost reset.It doesn't feel like a cyclical downturn.
Boart Longyear is a Utah-based company that provides drilling services and products.
The basic problem in Australia is,the mining sector has driven growth,according to Shane Oliver of AMP Capital Investors.We can't rely on that anymore.At the same time,the rest of the economy is relatively soft.
The Bank of Japan said the economy is relatively weak,but Japan will return to a moderate recovery path.
The share market in Japan is maybe telling us something.I think there's a good chance it's telling us in twelve months' time the economic measures are starting to work.The Japanese government has started down the right track and the share market reflects that.So far,it's up about 10% this year.We could see it rise 30%.
In early Tuesday trading,the Nikkei index was down 2.12%,and the ASX 200 declined 0.80%,on concerns about political gridlock in Italy.
Boart Longyear(ASX:BLY),iShares Japan Index Fund(EWJ),iShares Australia Index Fund(EWA)

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