USD/JPY edges lower on soft Chinese manufacturing barometer

Investing.com - Investing.com - The dollar slid against the yen on Monday after a Chinese factory gauge missed expectations and sparked safe-haven demand for the Japanese currency, while escalating unrest in Ukraine also watered down the greenback.

In U.S. trading, USD/JPY was down 0.11% and trading at 102.08, up from a session low of 101.87 and off a high of 102.26.

The pair was expected to test support at 101.87, the earlier low, and resistance at 103.02, Friday's high.

Investors were paying close attention to events unfolding in Ukraine, after conflict between the government and pro-Russian separatists grew more widespread over the weekend.

Fears that the U.S. will get dragged deeper into conflict and stifle recovery softened the greenback.

Elsewhere, weak output data out of China sparked safe-haven demand for the yen.

A final reading of China's HSBC manufacturing purchasing managers' index came in at 48.1 April, down from a preliminary estimate of 48.3 and missing forecasts for an uptick to 48.4. A reading below 50 indicates a contraction.

Elsewhere, profit taking from Friday's upbeat jobs report softened the greenback as well.

The dollar firmed last week after the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in April, well above expectations for jobs growth of 210,000, while the unemployment rate dropped to a five-and-a-half year low of 6.3%.

Still, concerns that long-term unemployment will remain a problem for the U.S. economy tarnished the otherwise positive jobs report, as the headline jobless rate fell in part due to a drop in the labor force, a sign that many who have been out of work for a long time quit looking for jobs and thus are no longer considered part of the labor pool.

Supporting the U.S. currency, however, was an upbeat report on the U.S. service sector.

In a report, the Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to a five-month high of 55.2 in April, from a reading of 53.1 in March, compared to expectations for a rise to 54.1.

The yen, meanwhile, was up against the euro and up against the pound, with EUR/JPY down 0.05% at 141.66, and GBP/JPY trading down 0.11% at 172.21.

On Tuesday, the U.S. is to release trade data.

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Election fever heats up in Amritsar, but not its realty mkt

Team Prime Property walks the streets of Punjab's largest political battlefield to find out what it'll take for developers to put their faith in the city.

Amritsar may boast of the Golden Temple and it maybe a purlieu of old money, but the city's real estate market needs more than a prayer if it is to reclaim its lost glory. Team Prime Property walks the streets of Punjab's largest political battlefield to find out what it'll take for developers to put their faith in the city.

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Italy arrests man over cup final shootings, bemoans soccer violence

By Gavin Jones

ROME (Reuters) - Police have arrested a man over shootings that marred the Italian Cup Final and left a supporter fighting for his life on Sunday, violence that politicians and commentators said pointed to a broader malaise in the national sport.

The shootings took place on the streets before Saturday night's match between Napoli and Fiorentina and set up ugly scenes inside Rome's Olympic Stadium, where supporters threw flares and smoke bombs and delayed the start of the final.

Napoli won the match 3-1.

Police said on Sunday they had arrested Daniele De Santis, a 48 year-old Roma supporter they said had insulted a group of Napoli fans and, when they responded, shot and wounded three of them with a pistol.

De Santis is charged with attempted murder while the three Napoli supporters are also under arrest. They include Ciro Esposito who is in a critical condition in hospital after a bullet hit him in the chest.

Commentators said the pre-match violence and the behaviour in the stadium, where supporters' boos and whistles drowned out the national anthem, underlined the decline of Italian soccer and the failure of its administrators.

Officials and politicians condemned the role given to Napoli's hard-core "Ultra" supporters, whose leader was consulted by the team's captain in the stadium before apparently giving his authorisation for the game to go ahead.

"What happened yesterday was the surrender of the country's institutions to the fans," said former national team coach Arrigo Sacchi.

"No-one wants to take any action because they are afraid of losing support, so the solutions are always put off and then forgotten about."

Repeated promises by politicians to crack down on soccer violence have proven ineffective, often resisted by the clubs themselves as well as their organised supporters.

Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said on Sunday he was considering introducing lifetime bans from stadiums for offenders, but many experts say Italy needs tougher criminal sanctions and an overhaul of its whole football culture to make it more family oriented.

Former Prime Minister Mario Monti suggested in 2012 that Italian professional soccer should be suspended for two or three years in the wake of a betting scandal, a call which was repeated by some commentators on Sunday.

NO PROGRESS

In the 1990s Italy's showcase Serie A was widely seen as the most attractive league in Europe but now suffers from chronic crowd violence, dilapidated, half-empty stadiums, racism and deteriorating performances by its teams in European competitions.

Beppe Grillo, leader of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement which is Italy's second largest party, wrote on his blog under the headline "The Republic is dead" that the cup final was like a funeral which confirmed the failure of the country's leaders and institutions.

The scenes in the stadium, watched by some 9 million television viewers, suggested little progress has been made in curbing the influence of the "Ultras" over the clubs.

The man accused of the shootings was among a group of Ultras who in 2004 prevented the derby between Roma and Lazio from being played after rumours - which turned out to be false - that a child had been run over by police outside the ground.

The sight of Napoli Ultras chief Gennaro De Tommaso apparently negotiating with team captain Marek Hamsik were reminiscent of the 2004 match when Roma's Ultras were consulted by captain Francesco Totti.

De Tommaso, whose photo was on the front pages of most newspapers on Sunday, wore a T-shirt calling for the release of a fellow Ultra in jail for the killing of a policeman at a Serie A match in Catania, Sicily in 2007.

(Reporting By Gavin Jones; Editing by Jon Boyle)

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Afghan boy relives terror of "bomb-like" landslide

By Mirwais Harooni

AAB BAREEK Afghanistan (Reuters) - Six-year-old Abdul Maqsood stood outside his neighbour's simple mud-brick home, staring aghast at the damage caused by a landslide which had slammed into his village in remote northeast Afghanistan. Then the rumbling started.

Maqsood had no idea that the entire side of the bare mountain above him, drenched by a week of heavy rain, had fractured and was about to cave in.

The second, even bigger landslide happened so quickly that Maqsood had no time to run. He was swamped by a wall of mud that swallowed up his home and some 300 others around him, taking hundreds, possibly thousands of lives in Afghanistan's worst natural disaster in a decade.

"It sounded like a bomb and I screamed, called my father and mother for help," he told Reuters on Sunday from a makeshift clinic in a tent where the injured were being treated by local and Red Cross medics.

"It was so dark and dusty everywhere and I didn't know what happened," said Maqsood, his head and leg wrapped in bandages.

The boy's father, a shovel already in hand after helping victims from the first landslide, rushed to back to find his son. Twenty minutes later, he dragged Maqsood from the earth and debris.

In one the poorest areas of Afghanistan - where most people do not have electricity and roads are almost non-existent - Maqsood's family was lucky: his mother and brother were also saved.

The United Nations on Sunday put the death toll from Friday's massive landslide in Badakhshan province, bordering Tajikistan, at up to 500. Local officials say the number killed could be as high as 2,700.

It is unlikely the final figure will ever be known, as officials say it is impossible to retrieve the bodies buried in up to 50 metres (160 ft) of mud and debris.

"We cannot continue the search and rescue operation anymore, as the houses are under metres of mud," said Gul Mohammad Bedaar, deputy governor of Badakhshan province. "We will offer prayers for the victims and make the area a mass grave."

Fears of another landslide prompted officials to evacuate the remaining 700 families, or about 4,000 people, to safer ground nearby. They may never return to live in their homes in Aab Bareek.

FREEZING

Afghan army helicopters delivered water, food, medicine and tents on Sunday, while aid agencies and local relief workers slowly arrived after a difficult journey over a pot-holed road.

The U.N. agency in charge of relief operations, the Office for the coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said the displaced were largely being accommodated with host families, with some in tents.

But villagers expressed their anger with the relief effort, saying that many had already spent two nights in the open in near freezing conditions.

"At least they should give us a shelter to live in," said Bibi Nawroz, who said she had lost eight members of her family in the disaster.

Local officials echoed their concerns, calling on the government and foreign aid agencies to act more quickly.

"There are thousands of families who are in desperate need of help and hundreds of other homes are at risk, or possibly another landslide," said deputy governor Bedaar.

"The government and relief organisations must act swiftly and send us more aid and equipment. What we have so far is not enough."

Over the past fortnight, about a third of the country has been flooded due to heavy seasonal rains and snow melt, killing 159 people.

The United Nations says 71,000 have been affected in a country prone to natural disasters due to its geographical location and years of environmental degradation.

Despite offers of help from the United States and NATO-led coalition troops battling Taliban insurgents, the Afghan government says it can manage on its own, with the assistance of aid agencies.

Relations between Kabul and Washington are at an all-time low over President Hamid Karzai's refusal to sign a security agreement allowing a small U.S. force to remain in the country at the end of the year.

Twelve years after U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan to drive the Taliban from power, foreign combat troops will withdraw on Dec. 31 leaving security in Afghan hands.

The United States wants to keep a force of less than 10,000 troops there for counter-insurgency and training purposes.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Jeremy Laurence; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

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WEATHER ALERTS IN INDIA ON 3rd MAY

According to the latest weather update by Skymet Meteorology Division in India, here are the weather alerts across the country issued on 3rd of May:

Weather alert for Kerala issued at 16:15 hours

Light to moderate rain and thundershowers at a few places are likely over Alappuzha, Idukki, Kollam, Pathanamthitta and Thiruvananthapuram districts of Kerala with strong average winds of 30 kmph gusting at 50 kmph during the next 2 to 4 hours.

Weather alert for Tamil Nadu issued at 16:09 hours

Light to good amounts of rain and thundershowers are likely at a few places over Ariyalur, Kanchipuram, Perambalur, Salem, Tiruchirappalli, Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram districts of Tamil Nadu with strong average winds of 40 kmph gusting at 70 kmph during the next 2 to 4 hours.

Weather alert for Odisha issued at 16:02 hours

Light to good amounts of rain and thundershowers are likely at a few places over Angul, Kendujhar and Mayurbhanj districts of Odisha with strong average winds of 40 kmph gusting at 70 kmph during the next 2 to 4 hours.

Weather alert for Jharkhand issued at 15:58 hours

Light to good amounts of rain and thundershowers are likely over Chaibasa, East Singhbhum and West Singbhum districts of Jharkhand with strong average winds of 50 kmph gusting at 80 kmph during the next 2 to 4 hours.

Weather alert for Meghalaya issued at 14:23 hours

Light to good amounts of rain and thundershowers at some places are likely over Jaintia Hills district of Meghalaya with strong average winds of 50 kmph gusting at 70 kmph during the next 2 to 6 hours.

Weather alert for Andhra Pradesh issued at 14:19 hours

Light to good amounts of rain and thundershowers are likely over Hyderabad, Mahbubnagar and Rangareddy districts of Andhra Pradesh with strong average winds of 50 kmph gusting at 70 kmph during the next 2 to 6 hours.

By: Skymetweather.com

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Modi's dream team: Who may get which portfolio?

R Jagannathan
Firstpost.com

With just two phases of polling to go, and with no undercurrents of any mood reversal visible in the electorate so far, two things can be said with a fair degree of certainty: the NDA will win, and Narendra Modi will be the next Prime Minister. The only elements of doubt pertain to two related issues: will the current NDA combine get to 272 on its own or it will need more post-poll allies; and what will be the BJP's own score in this 272-plus scenario (below 200 or above it)?

Above 200, Modi will be unstoppable; below 200 he will have to stoop to scoop up new allies. In either scenario, we still have him as PM. The only scenario where his elevation will be in some doubt is if the BJP falls below 180, but no one is talking about this possibility.

So this is as good a time as any to speculate about the composition of the next government led by Modi after 16 May. Contrary to what many Modi-baiters may think, the fact is he is not likely to bring about radical changes in the cabinet system, and barring the odd person or two, I would expect to see many of the old NDA faces in a Modi government. The only faces from Vajpayee's NDA who will not be there are LK Advani and Jaswant Singh. Advani, for obvious reasons, cannot work under his prot�g�, and Jaswant has been shown the door. But old allies like Shiv Sena and Akali Dal could send in new faces, given their own generational changes, and new allies will obviously bring new hands to the deck.

Any Modi government will be determined by his own choice of areas he wants to show progress, and political pressures from his party and the allies. Those who think he will concentrate all power in his hands are surely going to be dead wrong, for it is simply not possible unless the BJP wins 350 seats on its own – which too is not something anyone is even considering as even a distant possibility. In short, Modi is not going to run a one-man show.

These are the pressures that will operate on Modi if he wins.

�#1: The pre- and post-allies will have to be accommodated. This means many portfolios will be negotiated by forces outside Modi's span of political control. For example, the Akalis and Shiv Sena will seek good portfolios, and so will Chandrababu Naidu's TDP, which will bring in many seats from Seemandhra. Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP and Modi's rainbow coalition in Tamil Nadu will need portfolios too. If the BJP is short of 272, it will need a Jayalalithaa or a Naveen Patnaik to form a government. And possibly a TRS from Telangana. They will be accommodated.

#2: Internal BJP allies and partners will have to be accommodated. Modi didn't get where he is without help. Rajnath Singh, who will not be in the cabinet, played a huge role in smoothening Modi's passage from CM to PM candidate. Many of the UP candidates will owe some degree of allegiance to him, and Modi will surely oblige. Moreover, Modi's close CM allies – Vasundhara Raje and Raman Singh – will surely be entitled to put some of their nominees in government.

#3: Even BJP powers that are not Modi camp-followers – including Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh, Sushma Swaraj and Murli Manohar Joshi – will not be ignored. Modi may want to have his own people everywhere, but he knows that he also needs the state-level strengths brought by a Chouhan. Sushma and Joshi will surely be given decent portfolios – if only to avoid overt disgruntlement.

#4: Modi's external allies – Baba Ramdev and the RSS – will have some contributions to make in cabinet formation.

#5: Modi himself, of course, is not going to be someone who will just accept everyone's nominees. He has been in the race for PM, one suspects, partly to put 2002 behind him, and this means he will want performers in key ministries, even if they are not politicians with their own bases. Moreover, Modi may have particular interests in specific ministries which are sensitive politically to his priorities and those of his party.

#6: The last consideration will be regional representation. Many of the junior ministers may thus come from regions where the BJP may have few (or no) seats (for example, Kerala and West Bengal).

Given this backdrop, what is the most likely composition of a Modi government? It is best to look at portfolios that will be crucial to Modi's success and match them with the talent available to fit the bill.

Finance: Since this election is about the economy, finance will be the most critical portfolio. And here all signals points to one candidate: Arun Jaitley, the BJP's most articulate spokesman, who could be the MP elected from Amritsar if all goes well. He has been talking a lot of the economy. Modi himself hinted at an Amritsar rally recently that Jaitley will get an important portfolio – though not in so many words. Jaitley is thus likely to get the job. A junior minister here could be Piyush Goyal, with other junior ministers coming from allied parties.

Defence: Modi's keen interest in building a domestic defence industry and strengthening national security means he will want a competent minister here who will do a good job. Given the succession tussles now underway in the army, and the poor performance of the UPA in terms of modernisation and upgradation of the country's defence preparedness, Modi would need a sane and sensible minister here. The job could go to anybody Modi trusts – even a heavyweight suggested by Rajnath Singh. Modi may even retain the job with himself for a while.

External Affairs: This ministry will probably be given to someone familiar with economic diplomacy, a key Modi idea. Yashwant Sinha, who has been both finance minister and foreign minister, would be a perfect fit, but he has not contested the Lok Sabha polls this time, having got a ticket for his son Jayant instead. But if Jayant is not to be accommodated in the ministry if he wins, Sinha should be a possibility for the job.

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Blackstone-Embassy Grp now area-wise largest realty company

Blackstone and the Embassy Group have edged out DLF as the country's largest commercial developer in terms of square feet.

Blackstone and the Embassy Group have closed their first acquisition as partners but the addition of this fourth project to their portfolio has helped the partnership edge out DLF  as the country's largest commercial developer in terms of square feet.

It has taken embassy office parks, the 50:50 joint venture between private equity giant Blackstone and Bangalore-based developer Embassy Group Rs 1951 crore to outpace competition. The purchase of a 106-acre land parcel that houses embassy tech village in Bangalore is the joint venture's first to date and makes the fourth business park that the two of them own together.

The embassy group has taken a Rs 650 crore loan from StanChart to fund this deal.

Jitu Virwani, CMD, Embassy Group says, "One of the existing shareholders has retained 40 percent of his shareholding and staying with us rather than exiting. At some point, we will finally control 60 percent of park. Blackstone has brought in close to Rs 540 crore and the rest has been put in by us."

Also read:  DLF to raise Rs 900cr via CMBS; Crisil gives stable rating

The acquisition takes the company's total commercial real estate holding to over 20 million square feet spread across Bangalore and Pune and pushes DLF to second place in terms of commercial real estate under development in the country. However, the joint venture says it's just getting started.

It plans to build another 16 million sq ft over the next 5 years, including 8 million square feet in this newly acquired office space.

Embassy office parks hopes that by 2016, it will annually earn Rs 1000 crore from its rental portfolio. It believes that would be the right time to list its massive commercial portfolio as a real estate investment trust (reit). But experts say it's anyone's guess whether India would have passed the legislation to make reits a reality by then... In which case, the joint venture may have to consider a foreign reit listing.

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USD/JPY erases gains as Ukraine concerns brew anew

Investing.com - Investing.com - The dollar gave back gains against the yen on Friday after concerns the Ukraine crisis may heat up offset an upbeat U.S. April jobs report.

In U.S. trading, USD/JPY was down 0.10% and trading at 102.23, up from a session low of 102.14 and off a high of 103.02.

The pair was expected to test support at 102.03, Wednesday's low, and resistance at 103.02, the earlier high.

The Labor Department reported earlier that the U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in April, beating expectations for a 210,000 increase. March's figure was revised up to a 203,000 rise from a previously estimated 192,000 gain.

The private sector added 273,000 last month, more than an expected 210,000 increase. In March, the number of private sector jobs was revised up to a 202,000 increase a previously estimated 192,000 rise.

The report also showed that the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 6.3% in April, from 6.7% the previous month, compared to expectations for a fall 6.6%.

Separately, data showed that U.S. factory orders rose 1.1% in March, less than the expected 1.4% gain, after a 1.5% rise in February, whose figure was revised down from a previously estimated 1.6% increase.

The dollar shot up against the yen when the jobs data hit the wire, though chipping away at the dollar's earlier gains were concerns the Ukraine crisis may escalate.

The U.N. Security Council was set to meet to discuss the crisis on Friday, while separately, U.S. President Barack Obama alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel threatened to slap fresh sanctions on Russia if Moscow disrupts elections in Ukraine scheduled for May 25.

The yen, meanwhile, was up against the euro and up against the pound, with EUR/JPY down 0.07% at 141.81, and GBP/JPY trading down 0.21% at 172.50.

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Gold dips on upbeat spending, factory data

Investing.com - Investing.com - Gold prices edged lower on Thursday after data revealed consumer spending and personal incomes rose more than expected in March a day after the Federal Reserve said it was cutting the size of its monthly bond-buying program, which has supported gold since 2012.

Fed bond purchases bolster gold prices by weakening the dollar, as the two assets tend to trade inversely with one another.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold futures for June delivery traded at 1,283.90 a troy ounce during U.S. trading, down 0.93%, up from a session low of $1,277.40 and off a high of $1,293.10.

The June contract settled down 0.03% at $1,295.90 on Wednesday.

Futures were likely to find support at $1,268.60 a troy ounce, the low from April 24, and resistance at $1,306.50, Monday's high.

The Department of Labor reported earlier that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits last week rose by 14,000 to 344,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised total of 330,000.

Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 11,000 to 319,000.

Offsetting the disappointing jobless claims figures, the Commerce Department reported earlier that U.S. personal spending rose 0.9% in March from an upwardly revised 0.5% the previous month, beating expectations of 0.6%.

Consumer spending is the single biggest component of U.S. economic growth, accounting for as much as two-thirds of economic activity.

The report added that personal income rose 0.5%, beating expectations for a 0.4% increase.

Separately, the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing PMI rose to 54.9 last month from 53.7 in March, outpacing expectations for a 54.3 reading.

The reports came one day after data showed that the U.S. economy expanded at an annual rate of just 0.1% in the first quarter, well below forecasts for an expansion of 1.2%, though markets attributed the poor showing to rough winter weather that disrupted commerce earlier this year.

Despite the sharp slowdown in growth the Federal Reserve said Wednesday it would reduce its monthly bond purchases to $45 billion from $55 billion, as even though growth was nearly flat in the first quarter, the economy has been showing signs of gaining steam in recent weeks.

Bond purchases support gold prices by weakening the dollar, and Thursday's overall positive batch of indicators cemented views that the Fed will continue tapering its stimulus program as the year unfolds.

Investors were looking ahead to Friday's April nonfarm payrolls report, which was expected to show that the recovery in the labor market was continuing, which further eroded the yellow metal.

Meanwhile, silver for July delivery was down 0.71% at US$19.038 a troy ounce, while copper futures for July delivery were unchanged at US$3.028 a pound.

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U.S. stocks slip ahead of jobs data; Dow ends down 0.13%

Investing.com - Investing.com - U.S. stocks traded mixed to lower on Thursday as investors took a largely positive batch of economic indicators in stride and jumped to the sidelines ahead of the release of April's jobs report on Friday.

At the close of U.S. trading, the Dow 30 fell 0.13%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.01%, while the NASDAQ Composite index rose 0.31%.

The Department of Labor reported earlier that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits last week rose by 14,000 to 344,000 from the previous week's upwardly revised total of 330,000.

Analysts had expected jobless claims to fall by 11,000 to 319,000.

Offsetting the disappointing jobless claims figures, the Commerce Department reported earlier that U.S. personal spending rose 0.9% in March from an upwardly revised 0.5% the previous month, beating expectations of 0.6%.

Consumer spending is the single biggest component of U.S. economic growth, accounting for as much as two-thirds of economic activity.

The report added that personal income rose 0.5%, beating expectations for a 0.4% increase.

Separately, the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing PMI rose to 54.9 last month from 53.7 in March, outpacing expectations for a 54.3 reading.

Still, investors shrugged off the largely positive data and jumped to the sidelines ahead of the April jobs report on Friday.

Gains in recent sessions also sent many stocks to levels ripe for profit taking.

Leading Dow Jones Industrial Average performers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), up 1.79%, Visa Inc (NYSE:V), up 1.70%, and 3M Company (NYSE:MMM), up 1.23%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average's worst performers included International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM), down 1.51%, United Technologies Corporation (NYSE:UTX), down 1.31%, and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), down 1.03%.

European markets, meanwhile, were closed on holiday.

On Friday, stocks will react to the U.S. April jobs report.

Elsewhere, the U.S. is to issue a separate report on factory orders.

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