treasuries edge higher while stocks and futures are flat as traders brace for u.s. earnings season. gold surging to fresh records. president biden declares the u.s. commitment to defending japan and the philippines is ironclad amid concerns about china's actions in disputed waters. also i had, stories of million-dollar salaries and 50% pay hikes for india's finance professionals as banks hunt top talent amid a booming economy, and we set the scene for india's elections beginning next week with insights from a leading poster. with get to bloomberg markets asia, not quite riding that momentum in the u.s. korea, singapore pretty much as

expected. take a look at where we are in terms of the asia pac index. pretty flat. in terms of csi, it is lower. you on, yet another strong fix. offshore you want has been rising versus the u.s. pretty much four out of five trading days. the strength is due to the pboc fixing. japan in terms of the nikkei is getting a lift, boosted by a surgeon real estate sector. buybacks higher, r.o.e. among the issues being brought up to us. in terms of en intervention, yen study. if you recall, yen currently trading -- let me take a look where we are at this point in time. well, the yen at 153 .17, waiting for intervention. officials from both the u.s. and europe making it clear they are not in a hurry to cut rates. the boston fed president says it

may take more time than previously thought to gain the confidence to begin using policy. meanwhile, christine lagarde refrained from speculating much beyond their perspective move in june. >> we will continue to follow data-dependent and meeting by meeting approach to determine the appropriate level and duration of restriction, and we are not pre-committing to a particular rate path. >> the recent data has not materially changed my outlook, but they do highlight uncertainties related to timing and the need for patients, recognizing that disinflation may continue to be uneven. this also implies that less easing of policy this year than previously thought may be warranted. haslinda: for more, we are joined by the head of apac ishares investment strategy at

black rock in hong kong. so much for 2020 for being the year for disinflation. it looks like disinflation is dead. the narrative has suddenly changed, has an? "well, suddenly and not so suddenly. yes, where we are in terms of inflation numbers, growth, and particularly on the expectation for rate cuts has shifted dramatically. if you think about january, if you are an asset allocator, you predicated your entire application on the fact we will get multiple rate cuts in the u.s., inflation will come down, and how that impacts your portfolio. that has shifted so dramatically, there's a lot of confusion about what to do in this environment. do you shift away from your original asset allocation or stick with it here? haslinda: the thing is, we have gone from seven to 322 now, some suggesting perhaps a rate hike may be in a store. is that even a possibility? >> yeah, don't say that.

certainly if inflation continues to pick up and is sticking, you could have a possibility where you get two rate cuts and into next year, we get a rate hike. i think there's a lot of confusion at the moment, but what we have been saying all along is that inflation is sticky. the path to 2% is very difficult, and now you have this divergence between central banks where there's a lot of central banks in asia that are looking to cut rates outside of korea and taiwan and japan, and the ecb will likely cut before the fed now, which is a new shift. i think the asset allocation is important at this point because it is not all to be driven by the fed as it was the past couple of years. haslinda: is there a sense we might be headed toward unsynchronized central bank monetary policy? >> it certainly seems that way.

we have had the bank of korea and taiwan raise interest rates, ecb standing pat. rba looks like there's the possibility of a rate hike. the inflation dynamics across the globe are very, very different. i think central banks will obviously have differing policy moving forward. i think global growth is still slowing to some extent. not as much as anticipated at the start of the year, but, yeah, i think central banks will be driven by their own country dynamics rather than what the are doing at this point. haslinda: hang tight. i'm going to bring in my colleague who joins me in singapore. we talk about how the be ok stood pat. mes stood pat. pretty expected given that everybody is waiting on the fed. >> that's right, especially after u.s. inflation came out much stronger than expected, and

the rate pricing for the fed has also pulled back. i don't think any central bank in asia would go out there and say they are ready to cut interest rates when inflation uncertainty still remains the buzz word. when i was in singapore in january and i met with a bunch of investors, at the time, there was a lot of optimism, and people were talking about how we were going to see interest rate cuts in 2024 and the economy is going to turn around. this time, when i'm meeting with people, uncertainty is what everybody is talking about. haslinda: when it comes to the be ok, they did say it's hard to judge the possibility of rate cuts, even in the second half. >> yes, that is true. it is very hard to predict what inflation is doing. i think central bankers themselves are very much surprised, astounded at the stickiness of prices and also

the resilience of their respective economies. we are seeing that in australia as well. economic growth has slowed, but inflation remains sticky. it still remains concerning and does raise a question over if central banks have done enough to bring inflation down. haslinda: given such a scenario where there's so much uncertainty, where we talk about the possibility of unsynchronized bank policy, where are the opportunities? where do you put your money? >> as i said, in terms of the single country risk, the obvious ones for the long-term are still japan and india. in the short-term, we move to slightly more neutral on indian equities given some of the valuations and upcoming elections, etc., but over the long term, india, great engine of asia, japan different dynamics, but a lot of pushback on japan given the consensus tag it has at the moment. from what we are seeing, we

still see foreign investors underweight japan, and that's even before the actual domestic investor gets involved. 7 trillion u.s. dollars sitting in cash and deposits waiting to be deployed as the inflation picture picks up. japan, i think, also a good diversifier in the fact that they really want inflation and everybody else does not. japan and india are a single country, and there's still a lot of income -- a lot of yield you can get in fixed income markets type of maturity bonds, and on sectors, rotating, again, may be taking a little bit of rotation away from tech and into some of the slightly more safe haven consumer staples, etc., as we move into not only a higher inflationary regime but also some risks around the second half of the year. >> we cannot let you go without talking about china. what are your expectations?

what is happening there? also in terms of investment flows, what is happening with chinese equities? >> sentiment is still really bullish toward chinese equities at the moment. on the positives, we have started to see some influence back into chinese equities, both through stock connected, also through etf's. i think where foreign investors are now, it's not that they are incrementally positive on the growth of china, particularly on the macro level and also the fact that earnings growth has been so poor, but i think investors do not want to be too underweight in case we start to see a bit of a pickup in earnings, inflation, and the macro level. i think where we are now is in terms of my views on china, very similar to the start of the year. very much a trade environment. investors are looking for liquid offshore exposure to raise rates slightly, but i don't think the

six to nine-month view is incrementally positive at the moment. >> the issue right now for china and a lot of the other markets as well and in terms of currencies is u.s. exceptionalism. how much longer will the ust stay strong, and what do you make of the currencies around the region? >> i mean, it certainly looks like u.s. dollar strength will be with us for a little longer until we got some more data around inflation coming down in the u.s. and what other central banks are going to do. if the ecb are going to move first, obviously, that will create a little more tailwind for the u.s. dollar. i do still expect the boj and jpy will appreciate this year. a lot of testing of the mettle of mof as to when they will intervene, but the move is being driven more by the pickup in

yields in u.s. 10-year rather than anything specifically in japan. jpy future positioning very stretched on the short side from foreign investors, so i think if the mof did move, we would see some pretty sharp appreciation, but for the moment, it seems like that 150 level is where we will be for a while. haslinda: when do you see mof moving? >> everyone is now talking about 155, which you can put as much stock into as you want because everyone was talking about 150 and 152, and it did not happen. i think they are a little bit wary of moving at this level, given the jpy has been driven more by u.s. 10-year rather than anything domestically, but certainly, this level is much weaker than what they would like on the jpy. when they significantly moved in

october 2022, there was obviously a very sharp appreciation, but with the u.s. 10-year moving higher, we were kind of back to the same levels as we were before the intervention. i think they are very wary about when they actually move, but i think it will probably be coming relatively soon. >> i want to ask you about china, australia. the relationship has improved recently with a final tariff on winds lifting. are you look at any time -- are you looking at any china exposed stocks in australia? any china exposed stocks in australia as a place to invest? >> not really australia specific. looking for china exposure outside of china, most investors have been looking more towards europe, and as i said earlier,

when investors are actually looking at the china story, i think at the moment, it's not so much stock sector specific. it's more about how underweight we are in the portfolio and the risks to the upside, and if we want to put more china exposure to work, where are the liquid exposures we can use in the etf world. i think that is more offshore on the whole as a moment as opposed to taking specific stock or sector bets. haslinda: still ahead this hour, with almost one billion people registered to vote, india's six-week-long general election is set to begin this week. we will have a preview shortly. plus, how india's top traders are cashing in on the booming economy as banks battle for talent. keep it here with us. this is bloomberg.

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haslinda: welcome back. we are awaiting china trade data

today. in the meantime, we have the hang seng as well as csi 300 index under pressure. the hang seng is down about 1.5%. it is slipping, heading for a weekly close below that 17,000 threshold, which would send a negative signal pretty much across local stocks. it would be yet another example of hong kong lagging behind other major equity markets. the csi 300 in negative territory, down .2%. we are awaiting trade data and also awaiting the china gdp data due out next week. if the data does not bring any injection of positivity, investor sentiment will fall even more. we have been waiting for stimulus out of china, and that's not coming in a big way, the kind of big way that we were anticipating. >> yeah, it seems to me like we

are in a little bit of a bad news is good news and good news is bad news situation regarding what the pboc will do. where we are now, the expectation of 5% gdp growth this year i think is still attainable, but i think there still needs to be some tweaking in terms of policy, but when we start to get better trade data and better inflation data, etc., the market tends to drop because that kind of lowers expectation that we will get some kind of liquidity into the system from the pboc. state funds have been buying equities and etf's, but that's not quite enough to move things further. >> fx traders in particular are not convinced. it has been taking a lot of strong fixes to support the yuan. without that fix, i mean, where would the yuan be? >> i have absolutely no idea.

i suspect it would be somewhere around eight, but who knows? that's the thing with fixed currencies. what are the reserves you have to stick to that level? but the market is clearly fighting to further depreciate, and until something materially changes, that's the trend we are in at the moment. plus, you have a stronger u.s. dollar, which does not help particularly. haslinda: that's right. in terms of the ust and u.s. economy, we have earnings season starting to kick off as we speak. i'm just wondering what your expectations are. >> i think not as optimistic as the market is. if you look at expectations for this quarter and this year, very optimistic. now that we are starting to price in fewer rate cuts, you start to see this shift away from some of the smaller caps,

which had been seeing some pretty significant inflows, so a lot of investors started to think the bullishness on the economy was going to widen out into some of those small caps. that won't be in q1 earnings reports, but maybe into q2 and q3. a lot of questions on what could derail the u.s. exceptionalism. it is probably around earnings growth. right now, valuations are quite pricey, but if earnings continue to come through, those ratios come down, and it's the exact opposite in china. things are looking very cheap, but if earnings continue to fall, then the valuations look a little bit more expensive. haslinda: it's really about if valuations can be maintained for the big seven.

kenny likes of nvidia maintain the numbers we have seen so far? >> i don't really know, but certainly if you look at some of the projections for those mag seven, they are extremely high. when we look at some of the concentration risk in the u.s. market and how investors are positioned, the upside risk to a beat versus a downside risk of a miss, i think for my portfolio allocations, i would be going not to overweight on some of those stocks into this earnings season, but they continue to beat. until that shifts, investors are going to continue to play those names. haslinda: taking a look at where we are now, it does feel like financial conditions need to tighten even more for the fed to rein in inflation eventually. what will that mean for stocks? surely they will be under pressure. >> it depends obviously on how

far they go with regards to if there's no rate cuts or there's one or two, whatever it is. i think the misconception is that if the fed are more hawkish than was previously anticipated, that some of these tech names and mag seven will selloff. these are the names that have had all the profit and have all the cash to put to work, so they are the more safe haven type of exposures at the moment, whereas if you look at the russell 2000 type of exposures, these are the ones that are having to borrow at these high interest rates and tend to suffer as inflation continues to pick up. they have much more difficulty in passing costs on to end consumers. if this situation continues with sticky inflation, earnings continue to be good for some of the mag seven, then the issue will continue. it does not take much for investors to look to take profit

on some of those names. haslinda: one more question before we let you go -- what is keeping you up at night when you take a look at the markets? >> with daylight saving, it's a little bit easier to stay up. i think the one on wednesday was not keeping me up, but it certainly made it hard to go to sleep after that, given the big moves in yields. inflation is obviously one of them. i think u.s. election risk going into the second half of the year is definitely one of them. also, geopolitical tensions around that and how you hedge for those using things like commodities and gold i think are probably the three main things at the moment. haslinda: amazing how fast the gold has gone up. a after record. we thank you so much for your time today. plenty more ahead. keep it here with us.

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haslinda: some tech-related stories we are following -- stx co-founder sam bankman-fried will appeal his conviction and 25-year prison term for committing a multibillion-dollar fraud. he filed a notice of appeal in federal court two weeks after his sentencing. it's unclear on what grounds he tends that he intends to appeal. apple shares climbed in new york after bloomberg revealed the company is preparing to overhaul its entire mac lineup with ai-focused in-house chips. a new chip will come in at least three main varieties, and we are told apple is looking to update every mac model with the

technology. let's look at how apple supplies in asia are reacting on the back of that apple news. electronics under pressure. taiwan said in positive territory. in fact, up by almost 2%. then again, hearing apple said they are nearing production of the next-generation processor. we are also keeping an eye on chinese chip stocks on the back of the chinese minister urging the acceleration of ai and her uncle's unhappy. i'm sensing an underlying issue. it's t-mobile. it started when we tried to get him under a new plan. but they they unexpectedly unraveled their “price lock” guarantee. which has made him, a bit... unruly. you called yourself the “un-carrier”. you sing about “price lock” on those commercials. “the price lock, the price lock...” so, if you could change the price, change the name! it's not a lock, i know a lock. so how can we undo the damage? we could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. their connection is unreal.

and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for.

haslinda: welcome back. china markets just headed to lunch. csi rasher -- 3:00 p.m.

probably. of course, data due out next week. csi 300 index down 3/10 of 1%. the yuan front and center as well. another strong fix to get the offshore yuan has been rising for four out of five trading sessions. that has to do with that strong fix from the pboc. in terms of the yuan, it's at 723 as china goes to lunch. japan comes back from lunch break. take a look at where we are in terms of the nikkei to 25. it is getting a lift, boosted by a surging real estate sector. buybacks higher. estimates making that attractive. the topics up by's extensive wanted -- up by 6/10 of 1%. in terms of the yen, 15320.

we are looking at intervention at 152. that intervention not yet coming now. we expect intervention at 155. let's get more with mark cranfield. the yen, oh my. intervention. when is that coming? mark: it's a lot to do with the speed of the movements. the japanese authorities don't give the market indications of specific levels. that would backfire because traders would know where those areas are and drive the markets right there. it's more about the pace of the movements. that's what we saw in 2022. dollar-yen was going up too quickly over a couple of weeks, accelerating 5% which was too much, too soon. this time around, we've gone through 152. some people surprised by that. if you look at what happened in the past month or so, apart from this week, we haven't seen a

fast increase in dollar-yen. it's been very gradual. the japanese authorities are probably relaxed a little bit. not much they can do about the u.s. side of equation. u.s. cpi data coming in above forecast. they can't control that. they can only do from their own side. so far, the bank of japan has been slow to increase interest rates. the question is about the game next week. certainly the risk of intervention becomes stronger. haslinda: you say they will intervene outside of asia. if you take a look at the --, what does that say about the timing? mark: one of the reasons why people are thinking that they would probably use the time zones in new york -- in europe or new york, they've done it before. it's been effective but it tends to be where the biggest short positions tend to be. the most active hedge funds tend to be in europe or the united

states. they've built up large positions currently. they are holding big shorts against the end. we will see more momentum outside of asia as well. typically around the time of the u.s. data releases. our colleagues in tokyo built this model. one man is responsible for deciding when the japanese authorities go ahead. mr. yen these days in terms of minister of finance. he gave a little more clarity earlier this year when he talked about a 10 year movement. that one seems to be the move between early december to february when dollar-yen effectively went from 140 to 150 in a relatively short time. after that happened, he became very active and speaking regularly. telling traders, this is too fast. it has calmed down since then. if we follow that same logic, 156 would be the area where he would want to stop the yen from

falling. we get back to 146 and we are currently 153. ¥10 in a short space of time would equate to 156. whether that's the case or not, who knows. certainly we are looking at higher levels. haslinda: we are looking at higher levels. it is weakening yen trend. what does it mean for other asset classes? mark: it affects everybody. the whole foreign-exchange world is concerned about it because it affects the chinese currency as well. setting the fix at a strong level to reduce the volatility. of course it affects bonds markets as well. we've seen the japanese yield curve steepen quite sharply. that's not just because of what's happening in u.s. treasuries. it's also a reflection of the bank of japan saying quite clearly that they will be taking into account the yen moves because of the inflationary impact. that means higher interest rates in japan.

the japanese bombed curve has steepened aggressively because the bank of japan is watching. on the flipside, it's good for japanese equities. talk about the real estate sector, up 4%. several parts of the japanese stock market are enjoying the weaker yen. not so much the bond market. haslinda: in the end, it's also about the fed. thank you. the u.s., japan, philippines say they are committed to a free and open indo pacific. the statement comes after a summit between the three leaders following assertive chinese actions in disputed waters. >> the united states defense commitment to japan and to the philippines are ironclad. ironclad. as i said before, any attack on philippine aircraft vessels or armed forces in the south china sea will evoke our mutual defense treaty.

>> facing the complex challenges of our time requires concerted efforts on everyone's part. a dedication to a common purpose and an unwavering commitment to the rules-based international order. >> china's current stance and reactions present unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge not only to the peace and security of japan but to the peace and stability of international community at large. haslinda: strong words from the three leaders. what are some of the takeaways from this trilateral meeting? manolo: basically i think the leaders, especially japan and the philippines, sought to boost

defense ties and security ties with the u.s.. that's what they got. president biden said he was committed to deepening security ties with both allies. i think it was quite interesting with respect to the philippines. biden said that any attack on the philippine aircraft vessels or armed forces in the south china sea would involve the mutual defense treaty between the philippines and the u.s. because previously, what he was saying is any armed attack. it's an interesting change in terms of the wording there. it was also quite interesting that the japanese prime minister has pointed out that the world needs the u.s. in terms of

playing this pivotal role in terms of securing global order. especially towards asia, given the tensions with china. not just between the philippines and china over the south china sea but between japan and china in the east china sea. haslinda: it's well and good that the u.s. continues to back japan as well as the philippines. the question is how far the u.s. is willing to go. from there it -- the perspective of the philippines, what is its own understanding? manolo: basically, the philippines have been trying to adopt that stance. whatever is trying it -- china is doing, whether it's a supply boat or blocking its efforts in

the south china sea, what the philippines is doing is trying not to retaliate or water cannon back to the chinese ships. i think the u.s. is now quite clear in terms of saying that such is the commitment to the philippines in terms of mutual defense treaty. it's ironclad that any attack on the philippines would invoke that treaty precisely. for the philippines, as we've heard from marcos during our interview last march, that the philippines is trying not to poke the bear really. it's trying to be as calm as it

can in terms of what it needs to do. it needs to resupply a military outpost that's been there for over a quarter century. hopefully asserting its claims, within its exclusive zone. obviously it's hoping that china would not propose those efforts. haslinda: we know that marcos is in d.c. for the second time in less than a year. suggesting deepening relationships between the philippines as well as the u.s. what kind of cooperation can we expect beyond defense? manolo: actually, what they've been doing -- outside of the defense ties, what they've been doing, the u.s. has supporting -- been supporting efforts to boost infrastructure. right now, there was an agreement between the u.s. for

an economic corridor in the main philippine island. that will involve construction of rail, modernizing ports, boosting semiconductors. and it involves actually -- that corridor would include, would cover the two former military bases which are now economic zones. beyond that, i think there was also a grant by the u.s. to a philippine mining company to help push the philippine bid to encourage down trade processing in its mining industry. haslinda: as much as marcos is booking -- pushing back on china, china has a strong presence in the mining industry in the philippines. how do you balance that relationship? manolo: that's true.

to be honest, actually china remains the philippines top trading partner. and i don't think there has been real effect in terms of tensions in the south china sea. i don't think it spilled over such that it would affect relations between the philippines and china. for one, china remains the top market for nickel ore which is the philippines main metal export. also, it's -- china is a major destination for agricultural products like bananas. i don't think we are seeing a collapse of relations between china and the philippines. what the philippines is doing is trying to diversify its trading partners, countries that can invest in the philippines so

that when it's relationship with china becomes more strained in the future, it's ready. haslinda: thank you so much for that. pliny more ahead. keep it here with us. this is bloomberg. ♪ so, what are you thinking? i'm thinking... (speaking to self) about our honeymoon. what about africa? safari? hot air balloon ride? swim with elephants? wait, can we afford a safari? great question. like everything, it takes a little planning. or, put the money towards a down-payment... ...on a ranch ...in montana ...with horses let's take a look at those scenarios. j.p. morgan wealth management has advisors in chase branches and tools,

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haslinda: trepidation in terms of markets in asia on the back of harder than anticipated data out of the u.s.. traders repositioning and dialing back on expectations of those rate cuts in the u.s.. msci index pretty flat at this point in time on the u.s. of ppi. hence but still running hot, adding to worries about u.s. inflation. take a look at where we are in terms of the hang seng index. down about 1.7%, extending the loss for the day as well. let's do a check on indian markets. it starts trading right about now. let's take a look at where we are for the sensex index and all the other benchmarks, under pressure like the rest of asia. down about four tens of 1%. losses for the rest of the benchmark. city says india may see a higher profit upgrade than a long-term

average. that could be one to drive sentiment in that particular market. top traders in the south asian nation india have never had it so good, big banks looking for talent. the implement market is so strong, stories are circulating of million-dollar salaries and private bankers demanding 50% pay hikes. asia stocks reporter -- joins me now with more on today's big take. wow. that's a massive uptake. >> absolution -- absolutely. foreign form -- firms extending into india for the first time, who left india in the mid-2010s, are coming back because of renewed prospects in the country. it's done a lot of work in terms of ease of doing business in getting rid of some capital controls that were weighing on these businesses when they first

came into india. all that comes with a pay hike, with salaries booming so market makers at foreign and local firms are seeing desk heads getting a million dollars annually. and then you have private bankers who are jumping ship at a 50% pay hike, they are demanding no less than 30%, going up to 50% at times. and then you have employers who are finding that fund managers aren't turning up when they are supposed to on monday morning and just coasting them and turning up at arrival fund instead. that tells you how this is really using the market right now. haslinda: that's based on the assumption that this is a goldilocks situation. there are risks to that. >> absolutely. you can see that indian authorities are starting to go like, hang on. there's over exuberance here and you don't want things to crash.

they've clamped down on speculation. they are also trying to get small and mid-cap funds to stop taking in new money because there's over exuberance in that space for a lot of companies that aren't even profitable at this point. so they are taking steps. at the same time, india is winning from the em china flows for sure. this is a country that is expected to potentially overtake china as the growth engine of the world, bite one thing -- 2030 as our one-story said. there is over exuberance and parts but it seems like a structural trend for now. haslinda: if money keeps flowing, what do you do? you have to pay them. now let's stay with india. the world's largest exercise in democracy gets underway next week. nearly one billion people will be eligible to vote in india's general election, a process that will stretch over six weeks.

to help us understand the mood of the election, let's bring in --, the founder and director of the center for voting opinion and trends in election resource. good to have you with us. give us a sense of the issues chasing this election. >> the biggest issue is the prime minister and his popularity. it's unprecedented. prior to this, there's only one prime minister in india who actually went through three consecutive mandates in a row. it's unprecedented. also incredible in a way. this is the third election where he gets even more stronger mandate from the previous term. instead of any routine electoral

mechanism in india and the rest of the world, this time we are looking at the sentiment were every time the prime minister goes to the polls and comes back with an even better mandate. that's pretty impressive and interesting. haslinda: the question is why. why has he been able to do that? this time around, is he likely to gain support from the southern states, which traditionally have voted opposition? yashwant: the thing is that he's a relentless worker in terms of political equity management if i may say so. he knows very well that the south and some other states have not been very excited towards him in terms of the electoral process. he's invested a lot himself in all those estates. he's been a relentless campaigner. even the critiques, diehard critiques of modi have to

concede that this person is a 24/7 campaign machine. he works hard. not just in terms of campaigning but he works in terms of delivery and then he goes around campaigning around that. so i guess that's more important than anything else. the trustworthiness of prime minister modi which is working for his party primarily. that is something which is very unique. it's not that india is not known for very impressive opposition leaders. there are already impressive opposition leaders at the state level. when you talk about the national on her natives -- alternatives, it's the things he's provided for, the things he's planned. detractors have been saying that everything is not rosy. but they hope for a very good future, the kind of future they

are investing in. haslinda: what is the state of the opposition? some say that this is a crucial election for the opposition party congress, to show that it remains relevant in indian politics. yashwant: in the last 10 years, during the second phase of post-covid scenario, there were only three months where the prime minister's popularity rating actually went below 50%. otherwise in the last 10 years since these ratings have been always 50% plus. when you compare that to the main opposition leader, he still strugglers -- struggles. i guess the main problem of the opposition alliance is the fortunes of the congress party itself. the main problem of the congress party is the popularity rating of their main family which has

been at the leadership helm of the congress. in a presidential form, this is not picking up for the opposition. haslinda: if modi is so confident, why is thee a need to clamped down, intimidate, and even put opposition leaders to jail? yashwant: well, that makes many people curious. even in the public opinion. a big number of people have been saying that they have been politically used in that way. but yeah. there's disapproval for that kind of using of the agency. there are two things that play. there's disapproval for political use of the agency but there's hardly sympathy for the opposition who have been at the receiving end of this agency. that's the big difference.

it's not like them getting a huge sympathy wave out of the uses of probing agencies or the corruption cases. there's one sentiment that should not be misused. that's absent. haslinda: thank you for your insights. plenty more ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪ ♪♪ the road to opportunity. is often the road overlooked.

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haslinda: we are keeping a watch on korean tenure futures. yields lower on the back of what the bok did today. stood pat and said it was difficult to prejudge if cuts are coming in the second half of the year. hong kong heading off to lunch break. plenty more still ahead on bloomberg markets asia. keep it here with us. this is bloomberg. ♪

her uncle's unhappy. i'm sensing an underlying issue. it's t-mobile. it started when we tried to get him under a new plan. but they they unexpectedly unraveled their “price lock” guarantee. which has made him, a bit... unruly. you called yourself the “un-carrier”. you sing about “price lock” on those commercials. “the price lock, the pre lock...” so, if you could change the price, change the name! it's not a lock, i know a lock. so how can we undo the damage? we could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. their connection is unreal. and we could all un-experience this whole session. okay, that's uncalled for.

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