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New Zealand Consumer Confidence Retracts From 7-Year High



New Zealand's consumer confidence dropped modestly in February from January's seven-year high, but remained well above the trend, data from a survey showed Thursday. The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index dropped to 133 in February from 135.8 in January, which was the highest score in seven years. Confidence is spreading to all parts of the country. The current conditions sub-index eased 3 points to 127 during February. The future conditions index also shed 3 points and reached a score of 137.1 "It's now well flagged that interest rates are set to move up - a typical bug-bear for sentiment," ANZ said. However, rising asset prices, improving labor market conditions and reasonable income growth will continue to bode well for consumer confidence. Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted estimate showed that consumer sentiment increased modestly in February, and reached the highest level in seven years.


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UK's House Price Sentiment Improves To Record High: Markit



Confidence among British residents regarding the value of their homes increased to the record high in February, data from a survey by Knight Frank and Markit Economics revealed Friday.
The headline house price sentiment index, which measures households' views of the current value of their houses, climbed to 60.7 in February, hitting the highest level since the survey began. The index has now stayed above the no-change 50 mark, which separates growth from contraction, for the eleventh successive month.
Property owners in every region of the UK perceived that the value of their home rose in February, led by London, data showed.
At the same time, the outlook component of the survey jumped to an all-time high of 74.9 in February from 72.3 in January, indicating that prices are expected to rise at the strongest rate since the index began in 2009.
The survey showed that households in every region expect that the value of their home will rise over the next twelve months.
"The recovery in the housing market reflects the increasing economic confidence in the country - which recently resulted in an upgrade to economic growth forecasts - coupled with the assurance that interest rates will remain low until next year at least," Gr?inne Gilmore, head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, said.

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Yen Rises Against Majors



The Japanese yen gained against its major rivals in Asian morning deals on Monday.
The yen advanced to 102.36 against the greenback, 115.34 against the franc, 140.61 against the euro, 91.92 against the loonie and 170.25 against the pound.
The yen climbed to 4-day highs of 91.63 against the aussie and 84.63 against the kiwi.
The yen may eye resistance around 101.5 against the greenback, 169.00 against the pound, 114.2 against the franc, 139.00 against the euro, 90.00 against the loonie, 90.00 against the aussie and 83.5 against the kiwi.

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Japan January Corporate Service Prices Rise 0.8%




An index measuring corporate service prices in Japan was up 0.8 percent on year in January, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday, coming in at 96.3. That was shy of forecasts for an increase of 1.2 percent following the downwardly revised gain of 1.1 percent in December (originally 1.3 percent). On a monthly basis, corporate service prices dropped 0.6 percent after adding 0.2 percent in December. Among the individual components, prices moved lower for transportation, communications and advertising; prices were up for leasing and other services.

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Taiwan's January Unemployment Rate Drops To 4.07%



Taiwan's unemployment rate eased for the second straight month in January, data published by the Directorate General of Budget Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) revealed Wednesday.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 4.07 percent in January from 4.14 percent in December.
In January 2013, the jobless rate was 4.2 percent. Economists were looking for a jobless rate of 4.1 percent for January.
There were about 462,000 unemployed persons in Taiwan at the end of January, down by 1.45 percent than at the end of 2013. Compared to January 2013, unemployment dropped by 2.7 percent.
DGBAS noted that the number of unemployed persons increased by around 7,000 month-on-month to around 11.04 million in January. Year-on-year, employment advanced by 101,000. The labor force participation rate dropped modestly by 0.03 percentage points sequentially to 58.52 percent.
On an unadjusted base, 4.02 percent of the labor force was without a job in January, which was lower than December's rate of 4.08 percent.



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Australia Private Capital Expenditure Falls 5.2% In Q4




Private capital expenditure in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 5.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to the previous three months, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - coming in at A$38.291 billion.
That was well shy of forecasts for a decline of 1.3 percent following the downwardly revised 2.6 percent contraction in the third quarter (originally 3.6 percent).
Capex for buildings and structures dropped 3.5 percent to A$26.098 billion, while capex for equipment, plants and machinery plunged 8.6 percent to A$12.192 billion.
On year, private capex dropped 5.7 percent as spending on buildings added 0.3 percent but spending on machinery plummeted 16.3 percent.

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NZ Dollar Strengthens As ANZ Business Confidence Improves In February




The New Zealand dollar edged higher against its major counterparts in early Asian trading on Friday after the release of a survey results showed that the business confidence in New Zealand improved well in the month of February.
Results of a survey conducted by the ANZ Bank New Zealand showed that its business confidence rose to 70.8 in February from 64.1 in the previous month. ANZ activity outlook improved to 58.5 in the month from 53.5 in January. Both readings touched their highest levels since 1994.
The New Zealand dollar edged sharply higher to 0.8396 against the US dollar, its strongest level since January 14. The NZ dollar also rose to 1.6327 against the euro from previous low of 1.6398. The kiwi climbed to 1.0680 against the NZ dollar and 85.68 against the yen from previous lows of 1.0719 and 85.36, respectively.



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Indonesia's Manufacturing Sector Expands For Sixth Month





The Indonesian manufacturing sector expanded for the sixth successive month in February, but at a slightly weaker pace than in the beginning of the year, data published by Markit Economics and HSBC Bank revealed Monday.
The seasonally adjusted manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) came in at 50.5 in February. The index has now stayed above the no-change 50 mark, which separates growth from contraction, for the sixth month in a row. The February reading was, however, slightly lower than January's score of 51.
Production at Indonesian factories rebounded in February, following a contraction in January, but the rate of growth was fractional. The output recovery was driven by a further increase in new business, which has now recorded growth for the fifth month in a row.
Input costs faced by goods producers rose further in February amid food, metals, chemicals, plastics, paper and textiles prices. Subsequently, average output prices were raised further.


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Taiwan's Consumer Prices Drop Slightly In February



Taiwan's consumer prices decreased modestly in February from last year, data released by the National Statistics revealed Wednesday. The consumer price index edged down 0.05 percent in February from the corresponding month of last year. The decline mainly reflected a 2.07 percent fall in transportation and communication costs, and a 0.64 percent decrease in clothing expenses. These were partially offset by a 2.54 percent gain in food prices, and a 0.7 percent growth in housing costs. Month-on-month, the consumer price index recorded a 0.4 percent decrease during February, the agency said. Separately, the agency said Taiwan's wholesale prices decreased 0.48 percent year-on-year in February. Sequentially, wholesale prices rose by 0.4 percent.

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Australia Retail Sales Jump 1.2% In January



Retail sales in Australia climbed a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent on month in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - worth A$22.924 billion. That blew away forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent following the upwardly revised 0.7 percent gain in December (originally 0.5 percent). Among the individual components, food retailing was up 0.8 percent, along with cafes, restaurants and takeaway food services (1.4 percent), household goods retailing (0.4 percent), other retailing (0.4 percent), department stores (0.7 percent) and clothing, footwear and personal accessory retailing (0.3 percent).

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