Currencies

Global issues have not stopped Beijing further tightening monetary policy through another bank reserve increase.

Barclays’ quarterly survey of institutional investors shows commodities are the top pick for performance in the next three months, while inflation concerns are slowly increasing.

It is not often G7 central banks coordinate to intervene in financial markets, but the Japanese earthquake has prompted such extraordinary measures.

No further deterioration at Fukushima and attacks on Libyan forces heartened Wall Street last night and allowed a continuation of the bounce. Dow up 178.

Wrap of events affecting the market on Friday night and the weekend and a preview of the week ahead.

The newsflow slowed to a trickle last night regarding the nuclear threat, so Wall Street concentrated on other matters and became more bold. Dow up 161.

Everyone’s suddenly an expert, and conflicting information had Wall Street on an hour by hour rollercoaster last night. Dow down 225.

Focus has shifted, but eurozone leaders have surprised all by suddenly making progress on debt issues. A turning point?

Nuclear uncertainty led to a wide-scale exodus from commodity positions last night while the Dow opened down 300 points before finding fundamental buying. At the close it was down 137.

DBS remains positive on Asian equity markets but sees potential problems ahead in the next three months. The Australian market is a proxy.