Monday Newsline:Ukraine Crimps Markets;MH-370 Changes;The Masters

US stock futures were down early Monday on the deteriorating situation in Eastern Ukraine.At the same time,the price of the safe haven gold as well as oil were rising as this crisis in Eastern Europe seems to be careening off a cliff,and a contentious emergency session of the UN Security Council to discuss the matter provided little basis for optimism.
Asian stocks were also chagrined by Ukraine's violent unrest,and by how the rising yen is weighing on Japanese shares.The MSCI Asia-Pacific index was virtually flat,up just 0.02%.*
London home prices have hit a record high as the supply of homes dwindles.London job vacancies in the financial sector rose 10% in March.*
The Chinese company Minmetals Group is buying a Glencore copper project in Peru for 5.85 billion dollars.A survey shows China's Q1 GDP was up 7.3% on the year.*
Retired Air Chief Marshall Angus Houston,head of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre,held a news conference in Perth,Australia to sum up where we are in the hunt for the lost flight MH-370 on day 38 of the search,which is eight days beyond the guaranteed battery life of the airliner's flight data recorder.The experts have determined that the Ocean Shield will cease attempting the detection of further signals from the missing plane's black boxes later today,and will start missions with the Blue Fin 21 autonomous underwater vehicle,which generates a 3D,high resolution map of the ocean floor.The first of the 24 hour missions will cover 40 square kilometers with the vehicle's sidescan sonar.Use of this vehicle may not result in detection of the aircraft's wreckage.
Also,the Ocean Shield detected an oil slick 5500 meters downwind of the site of the underwater search.Two litres of the oil has been collected.It will be a number of days before it can be returned and definitively identified.
The chance of recovering any floating material has greatly diminished,and it will be necessary to consult with our partners to determine the way ahead.The air and surface search will be concluded in the next two days.
It looks like the Blue Fin 21 is more than adequate to the task.It's reallly up to the people on the spot to determine where we go next.We start with the four locations,and then we go outward from there.It's really important to give flexibility to the people who are doing the search.They're the experts.The first mission will be a quite intensive search.I would not term it as a long shot,but as a promising lead that needs to be investigated.That's how it's done,believe me.That's the business of search and recovery,search and rescue.
This area we're in is under the seventh aircraft ping detected by Inmarsat.This is an area that is unknown to man.It's almost flat and rolling,with a lot of silt on the bottom.The layers of silt can complicate the search.We're actually gathering information on the search environment all the time,and that goes into the calculation of where to go next
The oil slick is very close to where the transmissions are coming from.We don't think its from the ships,so it's something that must be investigated.It can't be tested at sea.
The Air France wreckage of five years ago was at 3,000 meters;we're talking about 4,500 meters.Don't be over-optimistic;be realistic,ACM Houston advised.*
American Bubba Watson,35,donned his second green jacket in three years as winner of The Masters major golf tournament in Augusta,Georgia.His compatriot Jordan Spieth,20,and Sweden's Jonas Blixt,29,tied for second,and Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain,54,the oldest man in the field,finished fourth.

Asia This Day:Chinese Growth Disappoints;Australia's Golf Triumph

Australian home loans were up 2% in February,and those in arrears were at their lowest since December 2010.Indeed,people were paying their loans off several months ahead of time.
The Bank of Japan will continue with its easing programme until we achieve the inflation target of  2 %,said BOJ chief Haruhiko Kuroda.
Hong Kong air pollution was very high at all three roadside monitoring stations.
China GDP growth was disappointing,coming in at 7.7%,versus the 8.0% estimate.Asian shares declined in response in early Monday trading,with the MSCI Asia Pacific index heading down 0.37%.
China's mass consumption is basically stable,said Pu Yonghao of UBS Wealth Management.Corporate investment is weak,however,as is real estate and government investment because of government policies.UBS downgraded China to neutral in response,along with Brazil,India and Russia,which also underperformed.
On the other hand,UBS favours South Korea because of Samsung's success.The Korean colour is basically Samsung's colour.China has to push up innovation and regain pricing power.It's their brand.
In golf,the Australians made a concerted push at The Masters tournament in Augusta,Georgia as Adam Scott bested Argentina's Angel Cabrera in a playoff to take the coveted green jacket,the highest honour in professional golf.Scott and his fellow countrymen Jason Day and Marc Leishman played like men possessed all weekend.They would no longer be denied the prize that had eluded them forever.
At the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix near Shanghai,Spain's Fernando Alonso captured first place,while Kimi Raikkonen of Finland and Great Britain's Lewis Hamilton took second and third,respectively.There were nine lead changes by six different leaders in the action-packed race that filled the stands of Shanghai International Circuit with flag-waving fans.
The overall F1 points leader is World Champion Sebastian Vettel of Germany,who finished fourth.His team Red Bull-Renault leads in the constructor's standings.
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (SSNLF)