What To Buy in Asia;Ford's China Position

Several financial markets were closed for the Easter Monday holiday,including Australia,New Zealand and Hong Kong.The MSCI Asia Pacific index declined 0.10% in early trading,while US stock futures rose.*
Japan's trade deficit widened more than expected as exports slowed.There was a 1.5% rise in exports versus an estimate of 1.8%.Imports climbed 18%.The figures may complicate Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to reflate the economy.*
We're buying businesses with strong net cash,said Maquarrie Group's Sam LeCornu.Some sectors in China are doing quite well,with March retail sales up 12.2%.We had a massive overweighting in health care,but have taken a lot off the table in the past six months.
China and Korea are standout buys.Chinese stocks are undervalued.We completely avoid property developers and banks.If we can't project the downside,we just don't invest.It's too risky.We have nine mainland midcaps in our New Stars portfolio.There's a huge discount.We're in two Citic affiliates.
We really like Korea.It's very cheap.We're looking at companies with net cash.We like Hotel Shilla with its duty free shopping and good airport concession chances.Chinese visitor numbers are up 37% in Korea.A number of Korea stocks are trading well below their intrinsic value.*
Ford Motor is the fastest growing foreign automaker in China.I think it's gonna continue,said CEO Alan Mulally at the Beijing Auto Show.We are bringing the entire Ford Win Plan with all our vehicles available.We think our preferred status will continue.Our sales are continuing to increase.It sure is nice to see the Ford preferred in the sales decision.
I think these new Lincolns are gonna be very well received here.We'll bring them here first,then make and design them here as sales pick up,Mr.Mulally explained.*
Petronas AMG Mercedes continued its dominance of the Formula One series as Great Britain's Lewis Hamilton secured his third straight victory at the Chinese Grand Prix Sunday.His teammate Nico Rosberg of Germany was second,and Spain's Fernando Alonso got Ferarri to its first podium of the season with his third place finish.The series continues in Barcelona in three weeks' time.

Asia This Day-plus Syria

Australian elections have been called for Saturday 7 September.This sent the ASX 200 index up 1.04%.*India's GDP for Q2 was up 4.4 year over year,down from 4.8 in Q1.The country's inflation and fiscal deficits are very high,noted Rajiv Biswas,Chief Asia Economist at IHS.*China's official August PMI was 51.0,indicating that a manufacturing recovery is underway.*You have to approach it from a corporate governance point of view,said Sam Le Cornu,Portfolio Manager at Macquarie Asia.You need to do a lot of work,meeting with management personally.We particularly like consumer discretionary.We really like Chinese equities.We're buying the Hang Seng.*We have a very strong ASEAN watch list.We're waiting for prices to come down.*EM is cheap.We're staying long China.We like North Asia.We're adding to Korea and like Taiwan.*We're looking for high quality management and strong balance sheets.We still say today Asia is full of risk.Our job as analysts is to quantify risk,Mr.Le Cornu told Bloomberg TV.*The MSCI Asia Pacific index was up 0.39% in early Monday trading.Gold and oil prices fell on the delay of US military action against Syria,which is widely seen as weakness.This goes to the core of American credibility in foreign policy and I believe Congress will do the right thing,Secretary of State John Kerry said.The President of the United States has the right to do this.He doesn't have to get approval.*Members of Congresss got lengthy classified breifings on Syria Sunday by administration officials,but some expressed a high degree of scepticism.*Syrian opposition leaders are bitterly critical of the delay,while Syrian officials reportedly believe Congress will not approve a military strike against them.

SoCal Iraq Vet Missing-was to graduate soon

Maribel Manriquez Ramos,36,a  prominent US Army veteran of Korea and Iraq,went missing last Thursday,May 2  in Orange County,California.The former sergeant was to graduate from Cal State Fullerton with a criminal justice degree in a few weeks' time.
Ms.Ramirez,five feet two inches tall and 130 pounds,was last seen on a surveillance video paying her apartment rent.She shared the apartment with a male who described her as his best friend and submitted his DNA sample to police.
She had served in the Army for eight years,including two tours in the Iraq War,and was to be honoured and speak at a Cal State Fullerton veterans appreciation dinner on Saturday.Regarded as an excellent student,her family is extremely concerned as the disappearance is so out of character for her.
Diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following her discharge,she had just returned from a speaking engagement in Chicago the day before her disappearance and was also to participate in a radio chat show.
Ramirez has two tattoos:a star on her left shoulder and an Aztec or tribal symbol on her lower back.She has shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information about Ramirez is asked to call Detective Ramirez at 714-744-7313 or Orange Police Watch Commander at 714-744-7313.