haslinda: it's almost 6 a.m. in tel aviv. the world is awaiting israel's response to iran's first direct attack on the country in decades. markets since the risk of escalation has been contained. it is almost 11 a.m. in singapore and shanghai. welcome to "bloomberg markets asia" i'm haslinda amin. aluminum and nickel surge on the london metal exchange as traders respond to news u.s. and u.k. sanctions on russian supplies. china withdrawing cash from the banking system again, signaling caution toward monetary easing as currency depreciation pressures mount. and shares of india's tech firms in focus, after tata consultancy's profits beat expectations on demand for ai and machine learning projects. iran has called its attack on israel a success. and is warning the u.s. to stay

out of the conflict. tehran launched a garage of drone and missiles against israel saturday in its first direct attack on the jewish state. most of the salvo was intercepted by israel and its allies. but at least one girl was left badly injured. tehran says the attack was retaliation for an israeli strike in syria that killed to military officials. >> from our point of view, this operation is over. there is no intention to continue the operation. but if the scientist regime takes any action against the islamic republic, whether on our soil or places belong to us in syria, our next operation will be much larger. >> the proof that iran's six escalation. iran launched over 350 ballistic missiles, rockets, and suicide

drones towards israel and other countries in the region could have gotten that threat along the way. iran doesn't just pose a threat to israel, it poses a threat to the entire middle east. haslinda: let's check commodities on the back of that attack over the weekend. oil of shorting off iran's -- shrugging off iran's attack, or analysts are running through the scenarios. brent crude down 0.3 percent, but still above $90 a barrel. new york crude at 85.30. we're tracking gold. gold has been inching higher, climbing to a record. surging on the back of rising geopolitical risk and buying from the likes of india as well as china. silver playing catch-up, it has been hard in 24, in fact beating gold, the question is whether it can remain hot.

currently inching a tad lower it from about 0.1%. let's get the latest with bloomberg editor christine burke in riyadh. walk us through the latest of elements. -- developments. >> i will say that tension on the ground is a significant at the moment. while we were alerted to the fact that iran may carry out a strike against israel. heading into the weekend this was widely telegraphed. the fact that it has now happened it is significant. this puts the middle east in a delicate position with the threat of all-out war becoming a real possibility. the strike that was carried out by iran on israel was mostly unprecedented. is the first time in decades that iran has launched an attack from within its own soil for a number of years. traditionally, iran has carried out attacks on israel through

its militant proxy groups including hezbollah, hamas and the houthis in yemen. this latest action by iran now signals it is willing to move out of the shadows and confront israel directly. that puts the status of middle east relations in a delicate position. already we have seen strong reaction from the international community. g7 leaders were quick to condemn the attack on israel. and to say they stand with israel in terms of supporting security. we heard from the g7 saying they may look at the possibility of more sanctions on iran. at the same time, they have widely encouraged all parties that are involved in this conflict to exercise maximum constraint. it is clear that no one in terms of the g7 and international community is looking for things to escalate further. the key question is how israel will respond. that is what everyone is asking. when it comes to the iran side of things, iran said yesterday it would not carry out further

strikes on israel, if israel does not respond aggressively. the fact that israel had advance warning suggests iran was looking to send a clear message. but possibly not throttle things into all-out war. it does seem that the ball is in israel's court. haslinda: as we await israel's response, what is the latest in gaza? >> we heard from israel yesterday saying that the latest ceasefire proposal that was tabled by mediators was rejected by hamas. there wasn't a whole lot of detail in terms of why this proposal was rejected. israel did not say it was directly related to the latest development with iran. however it said hamas is quote continuing to exploit tension with iran and does not want a emitted here in deal and return of hostages. certainly a question we are

asking given that prime minister netanyahu is facing pressure not only in gaza but from her own. haslinda: bloomberg editor christine burke in riyadh. let's bring in a senior research fellow at the middle east research institute. he specializes in middle east strategic fares with a focus on the israel-hezbollah conflict. you say it is a win-win for israel as well as ron. yet here we are awaiting israel's response. why? >> for israel right now the issue is in in terms of the optics, there has not been any damage. at the same time, you have an unprecedented attack directly on israeli territory. hundreds of crews and ballistic missiles. the question is does israel stop here the cycle of escalation or does it want to demonstrate that it has no fear to escalate more.

right now it seems the biden administration has been clear. it doesn't want israel to a tally it after what happened. haslinda: it does seem more symbolic than significant. it has been well choreographed, well telegraphed. and there has been no damage. >> we have many information that suggests that the iranians wanted mostly to demonstrate publicly that they weren't doing nothing after the attack on the embassy in damascus. they consulted the neighboring countries 48 hours before. even before the missiles had all reached israel, you had an ira and in announcement that the operation was over. since then repeated statements that they don't want anymore escalation. on the iranian side it was mostly about saving face. right now they want to avoid regional escalation. haslinda: is it too early to conclude how strong iran is right now?

we talked about 300 missiles and drones. it is way bigger than anything we have seen before from iran. what conclusion can you come to when it comes to iran's capabilities? jean-loup: we shouldn't dismiss the iranian capabilities just because there has been no damage. i don't think the iranians wanted to inflict severe damages. when you use cruise missiles and ballistic missiles like they did, they wanted to inflict some damages. at the end of the day it shows that the israeli and american air defense systems were good in terms of interception. we should remember the iranians in 2020, after the killing of qassem soleimani in iraq, inflicted severe damage on a u.s. military base in iraq. the iranian missiles should not be dismissed. they have the firepower to inflict some damages.

because the optics were more important than the damages itself, what we saw was a controlled escalation. haslinda: any concerns that iran has a nuclear program? jean-loup: the nuclear program they have made no secret that they are still enriching uranium. the question is will they go further in terms of militarization of that program? at the strategic level, you can see the logic right now because iran may see the current confrontation with israel as limiting options for tehran. so it could push further the logic for going further at the military level. this may be one thing israel is considering right now. this might be the window of opportunity for israelis to target the nuclear program. i don't think the decision has been made but i am sure this

will be in the air right now in the israeli talks inside government and with the u.s. administration. haslinda: we are seeing headlines that saudi arabian and iran foreign ministers are in discussion about the tensions in the region. when you look at statements like this, you have got to think that could be an escalation in the middle east. how do you see this playing out? jean-loup: there are several aspects. the saudis have different priorities than the israelis. what they want to prevent his escalation in the persian gulf. particular in yemen. they want to avoid war in yemen to resume. we have had discussions with houthis before october 7. the problem right now for the saudis is what is happening in the red sea is not going the right direction for their own interests. they are trying as much as possible to disconnect gaza from

the persian gulf and especially yemen. if that consultation they have with iran can do that, i think they will go further. at the same time, we saw that the saudis had been involved in interception of the missiles. we see that there are some conflicted priorities and interests for all the different actors. iran is seen as a major concern not just for israel but a lot of the arab states. what those states such as saudi arabia want to avoid is regional war like we were fearing a few days ago. haslinda: we have heard from the u.s. it does not want to see further escalation. how much sway does biden's administration have on israel knowing full well how a netanyahu has been behaving lately. jean-loup: when we come to the discussion on israel's strike on iran, clearly the u.s. has a lot of leeway.

but we saw yesterday is it is impossible to imagine air defense in israel without the support of the u.s. because the u.s. is heavily involved in the protection of israel against iranian missiles, the u.s. has a role to say no to further escalation. if we imagine a scenario where israel wants to conduct airstrikes on iran's nuclear program, i don't see that happening without consultations with the biden administration. and i don't see them giving the green light on that right now. haslinda: jean-loup samaan from the middle east institute on the very latest. you can turn to your bloomberg for more. go to tliv to get commentary and analysis from bloomberg's expert editors. still ahead, we discuss india's upcoming elections with the center for policy research. why they think the opposition is not in position to challenge prime minister modi's bjp.

but first, market analysis with covenant capital, and why they see gold becoming the perfect inflation hedge. keep it here with us. this is bloomberg. ♪

haslinda: traders assessing iran's attack on israel over the weekend. gold currently flat at 2373, it has been surging on the back of rising geopolitical risk as well as buying by central banks. goldman saying gold will get to 2700 dollars by the end of the year. 17% upside from here and it says gold is in an unshakable bull market as it makes that upside projection. look at where we are in terms of brent crude, down 0.3%, still above that $90 level. vix future is currently down by 1.9%. still elevated when compared to last year. 16.70 six is what we are looking

at. 10-year yield sat 4.5 460. our next guest sees gold rallying. let's bring in edward lim, cio of covenant capital. he says gold has been one of his top conviction calls since late last year. good to have you with us. $2700 is what goldman says, do you see gold getting to that level? edward: we are bullish gold. the premise is, the two factors that drive gold, the short-term and longer-term are poised to benefit from this trend. the short-term is if inflation tends to be stickier than we expected, gold is a good inflation hedge. if treasury yields go down because the fed will cut rates, gold tends to perform well when yields go down. why we have traded gold episodically but this time around it will be a permanent feature in our portfolio. the reason is the dollar hegemony that existed since

post-world war ii is coming to a test right now. there is no alternative besides gold. in terms of what you mentioned, central bankers have been buying gold for nine consecutive months. china has been buying for 15 consecutive months. in terms of india and turkey they are holding the highest gold reserves ever. we think the trend both in short-term and long-term drivers -- haslinda: you should be holding gold in your portfolio. how much does gold account? edward: very good question. gold itself is a negative carry. if you buy physical gold you are paying for storage. that is 40 basis points of expense ratio. our analysis tells us that you have got to hold around three to 5%. nothing more than that. otherwise, you take of opportunities to invest. haslinda: but that is no higher than normal, that is the norm? edward: as a firm, we have not held gold for long periods of time.

we were at zero gold until last year. haslinda: do you buy the dip? edward: yes, we are trading, last year was the first time we entered the market. we sold recently, we are getting back in again. 2005 is where my target is. 2007 seems rich but the trend is there. haslinda: in terms of silver, it has been doing better than gold in terms of percentage. what are your views on silver? edward: there is an application use here. there is no real application use for gold compared to silver in the industrial front. for us it is easier to buy gold. etf gold is our weapon of choice in this environment. haslinda: we are talking about war over the weekend. is that change the way you look at your investments?

does it change where you put your money. edward: when we look at -- we work for risk on at the start of the year. if disinflation continues, fed cuts rates and all this ambient noise, all this conflict stays ambient. obviously, the uncomfortable truth for six months [indiscernible] -- truce for six-month has been broken. here are the numbers. oil at $80 for $10 increase translates to zero .04 percentage points to core pce. however if oil goes above $100, every $10 move above $100 translates to core pce rising 0.3 percentage points. it is exponential when oil goes past the one hunter dollar

threshold. on the current market narrative talking about sticky inflation, this is unwelcome news. haslinda: we were talking about $100 oil before the attack on the weekend. do you see $100 oil and essentially higher oil would be supportive of the usd? edward: going above $100 will require a couple of things to happen. first of which, saudi or the opec+, decides not to release some of their voluntary production cuts. they are sizable because between saudi and uae they have 3 million barrels of oil per day in spare capacity they can release. iran itself produces 3.6 million barrels a day. just by uae and saudi releasing some of that, you offset whatever iran production loss could be. we know that iran production will never be zero.

haslinda: even if we don't get to $100 a barrel oil, it is still elevated, is that supportive of the u.s. dollar? edward: i'm not too sure, i think the u.s. dollar more of a flight to safe haven assets. i don't see the connection between oil and the u.s. dollar. whatever development has happened over the weekend, dollar should be bid. haslinda: weaker towards year end on the expectations the fed makes a move? edward: we expect the dollar to weaken moderately. yen is the prefers trade. we are of the view that the fed will cut three to four times starting in the second quarter. the market hedingham aggressive view at the start of the year, five or six cuts as early as march. we disagree but we think with the fed easing and ecb easing,

they made it clear june will be the timeline. that should offer a reprieve for emerging-market currencies. haslinda: edward lim, cio of covenant capital. another commodity story we're following is metals moves out of the lma. let's check where aluminum, copper and nickel are trading. we have aluminum trading up almost 5%. copper flat and nickel up by 3.4%. the sanction against russia raising concerns in the commodities space. plenty more ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪ you know what's brilliant? boring. think about it.

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haslinda: market tracker idc says apple's iphone shipments fell sharply in the first

quarter despite a rebound in the broader smartphone industry. the tech giant ship some 15 million handsets. marketing a 10% decline from last year. apple's global results have been impacted by its weak showing in china, which is the world's biggest smartphone market. let's take a look at apple suppliers in asia and see how they are doing on the back of apples shipments plunging 10%, as android rivals rise. aac technologies down 1.8 percent, sunny optical technology also under pressure. sk hynix down 1.8% though. cowell holdings currently on the opposite direction, up 1.8%. we're keeping an eye on rusal and other miners on the back of lme banning russia. that accounts for 5% of aluminum and 4% of copper. rusal down two.6 percent.

chalco currently flat. and catl currently up 3.6%, jumping the most in two weeks ahead of its first-quarter earnings. in the broader market, trepidation, nerves as we saw the attack from iran on israel over the weekend. only china is in the positive. the csi 300 index has been lackluster but today up 1.9% on the back of authority saying it will do more to support. and of course scrutinize the markets right now. 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 price lock...”

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haslinda: we have brent crude down elevated at the 2019 level. on israel, analysts are trying to run through what is going to happen in the coming days bearing in mind brent up 20% year to date, 90 bucks a barrel. gold front and center, 2375, has been surging on the back of geopolitical risk, buying by several banks including china and india. silver has playing catch-up. it has gotten better than gold. 2828 is what we are looking at right now, down .01. goldman weighing in saying that gold is an unshakable bull market. we are keeping an eye on copper

and nickel, on the back of russia banning an important producer. coming for 6% of nickel supply globally and 4% of couple, gains across the board, aluminum leading it by 4%. lets talk with our senior reporter. traders were expecting it. >> yeah, when you are looking at what is happening right now there was an expectation that you would see what the u.s. and the u.k. we're doing with their sanctions. you are seeing the prices feedthrough. still, the price moves are quite large and there is an interesting thing that will happen here, right? so, of course, this removes a lot of the aluminum and copper from the market going into the? it's from russia. -- the? it's from russia. it will lead to a change of

flows of these metals to china. china had been more than willing to import from russia right on the shanghai's exchange, is the only one in the world that can accept these metals. so, because of that you are going to see an interesting change in flows. so, the metals are still going to make their way to the market. there will be a readjustment. yes, prices have surged today, will prices recede as things get readjusted because if china were to import more from there that would offset supply elsewhere in feet around. there will be a readjustment. is this a crisis? not exactly. there will not be a shortage. it makes things more complicated for everybody. haslinda: you can expect greater volatility. i can ask the question whether or not some funds may have to cut exposure because of that. >> yeah, absolutely. when you're coming into, i'm thinking broadly outside of metals, when you're looking at the commodity complex going into the weekend, if you are on the trading desk and you had short positions in, in metals or even

oil or gas this would be the time to start to unwind those short positions. the geopolitical risk in the middle is, you have but also with russia. you have russia attacking ukrainian gas storage facilities. that will affect your gas prices. so all of that together does lead to more volatility. so, you get out of these crisis, you unwind your short positions and where do you go next? gold might be one position if you want to have a haven asset. gold is unchanged. haslinda: you talk about the risk in middle east. oil not much reaction. >> that is a really good point. leading to friday, if you are on the trading desk friday you were expecting a bigger reaction, a bigger attack and immediately after the, the attack from iran on israel, there was most if not

all, close to all of the drones and the missiles were shot down. the same time, you had iran coming out and saying that this is concluded. we are done and then you have g-7 coming in, saying israel, let's have a restrained approach, i am paraphrasing. but that is sort of the way they are saying that situation. the worst case scenario, which is a full-blown war, did not play out. now, of course everyone will be watching very closely israel's response to this. but at the moment, the strait of hormuz still open. that is a key conduit for oil and gas trade. at the same time, it does seem that analysts are saying, it does look like the u.s. is going to put more sanctions on iranian oil, which is millions of barrels of oil to the date even though there are restrictions there, g7 communiqué did not say anything about further measures

on oil for iran. overall, everyone sighs a bit of relief. so that risk is not totally gone. haslinda: relief but the risk is there. thank you for those insights. geopolitical concerns dominating the market conversations today, but some analysts believe the initial knee jerk reaction to the issue is unlikely to be sustained. let's bring in our live asia coverage. welcome to the city. yes, geopolitical risk but not likely to persist? haslinda: well, geopolitical risk is not coming away. it has been around all this year. at times, it seemed a little bit weird how strong it has been for risk assets at a time war war when you haves -- wars in the middle east and in europe. you have concerns about taiwan. and investors -- are saying that is fine. none of that is going to blow

up. so, what we have had here is a more serious, you know, alarm call, as it were, to some extent they can make investors potentially more confident that we have no appropriately. y christ and some of these risks. the worst-case scenario was games out on friday when stocks dropped dramatically, also, moved higher and treasury yield dropped. all of those things on friday were emergency settings. we have come back since then. they are not too bar. at one stage, brent was above 90. up 20% year-to-date. as you were saying. that risk of higher fuel prices,, that is driven not just by speculation, it is driven not just by supply concerns, and demand. so, all of that speaks to those

inflation concerns which are the back of everybody's minds because one of the things we are really wondering is what is the fed going to do? the fed is mostly not responding to geopolitics. haslinda: and because we have that question we have been asking all of our viewers, to do with, you know with like when it comes to -- china where the money should be going into, we are coming down to the india open is six minutes or so. what has been the response?? >> the response has been in favor of nds, somewhat to my response. i thought, how much more expensive can indian equities get before investors say this is too pricey for me. so far it is looking like they need to get pricier still. and there are lots of good reasons for that. one of that is -- the group has been stable. -- the indian rupee has been

stable. we have the yen hitting fresh 30 year low's today. everybody is wondering when, where, how? and you've got the yuan marching lower with the pboc doing everything they can with the mls and all those instruments to try to stop it going too far, too fast. haslinda: hang tight. some in the market weighing in on the issue. let's take a listen to what they have to say. >> i'm not as pessimistic as most on china. >> we have to focus on the medium and long-term opportunity in china. >> for japan we do see it as a long-term story. >> india is an obvious choice for -- to invest. >> it is the investment destination of the decade. >> it is a big mistake not to have china and portfolios. >> investors -- who used traditionally invest in gold and real estate are coming into the

markets. >> japan is one of the most important markets outside of the u.s. >> we continue to invest and try to. we do think that china is investable. >> it is definitely not contrarian to be optimistic about japan anymore. haslinda: as we heard from some of our speakers, it is good to invest in china. >> the problem is, how long do you stay in? that has always been the concern in recent times is, even when, yes, we have got very cheap valuations. we also have the government doing everything it can to improve the outlook and to encourage people not to sell and to buy. but each time it has bounced, it then turns around again because the government confuses investors or cracks down on sectors or theu .s. brings in fresh sanctions. or the yuan breaks out. there are a lot of risks there. and for the moment, investors

are, you know, trying to find a way to get in there, but they are also very much want to be nimble about having exit strategies because of what has gone before. haslinda: garfield reynolds who leads our markets life asia covers. still to come on the show, hear why the center for policy research describes nds upcoming polls as a noncompetitive reaction. keep it here with us. this is bloomberg. ♪

haslinda: welcome back to bloomberg markets: asia. we're keeping an eye as india is trading about four minutes from here. sensex down 1.2 percent in line with the rest of the region. trepidation as we saw over the weekend as iran attacked israel. and now the world waiting for perhaps a response from israel. what might it do in the coming days and perhaps coming weeks? for a closer look at tcs's

earnings, let's bring in our bloomberg reporter. he joins us live from mumbai. what are some of the key takeaways of tcs earnings as we wait for the stock to be traded? >> this is one of the leading jewel in the crown of india's oldest group. this is been excellent -- and on revenue perspective it was in line with expectations. in terms of margin, it has been a performing -- been a performing one of the best. this is like the best for them in terms of margins, they are showing the signs of coming back or turnaround, rather. in terms of performance it is in line, the margins were pretty good in terms of predicting the utilization and rising.

this was the best quarter for data consolidation services because it managed to get $13.2 billion of bookings in this quarter but last but not le ast, they will wire about 40,000 in fy -- which is an indication that the recovery is on its way. haslinda: what are some of the challenges ahead for the company? sanjai: oh, that is an interesting question. in any external challenges could be geopolitical tensions could be a challenge for the new management. discretionary spending -- they expecting that will turnarounda. if you see a lot of accelerations like the collapse of the silicon valley -- or the big tech firms laying off

massively that can pose challenges to tcs earnings but they are expecting these things can transform. and they are also waiting for a good financial trigger for a meaningful turnaround in the coming quarters. and they are very cautious, optimistically cautious in the medium-term, but in the long term they are expecting some -- some positives, there could be a good financial turnaround. haslinda: thank you so much for that. our bloomberg reporter there joining us from india. let's get a check on indian markets as it hits that open. any moment now, there has been that big debate. china versus india, how influencers have gone from china into india, driving the elevated valuations that we are seeing among indian stocks. we had regulators -- warning and cautioning investors about those

elevated valuations. india in the first minute of trade is in negative territory, the sensex down .08. nifty 100 down by .90. flat -- the one stock we are tracking is tcs, after one contracts in the club. trading at this-- not -- staying with india, it is pledging to focus on infrastructure. and promising modi is bidding for an historic third time in voting. our guest believes that this is a noncompetitive election. joining us from new delhi is a senior fellow from the center propeller see research --

the center for research. for policy research. >> there is a great imbalance of power. ten years, and its adversaries. the opposition despite -- remains fragmented. it is not able to challenge the bjp. that leaves no stone unturned to maximize its position. the concern is not just about the imbalance but about these elections free and fair character. the location of political funding is heavily skewed in favor of the bjp. it has misused its position ot to impair the opposition. opposition leaders have been arrested over the past events, the bank accounts have been frozen. public institutions -- against parties and leaders, the party in the government exerts a strong control over the media, making it difficult for the

opposition to make itself heard. and more seriously perhaps, the election commission is no longer considered an impartial arbiter of the election process. there is a growing distrust and voting systems, even though india still has a robust election infrastructure. in other terms, the democratic decline we've seen it india exacerbated the past ten yearsm affects its electoral proces, too. haslinda: suffice to say that bjp has used the machinery to weaken the opposition care and how about in terms of influence over the media? where are we with that? >> so, when the bjp came to power, it basically posted itself is someone who distrusted -- media was never on their side. they created their own channels of communication on social media. and i newspapers and television channels. it put the traditional media in a position where realize they had a role to play, they no

longer had a role to play and they no longer had the power that traditionally the press plays. they basically learned gradually to align. the government also uses a major source of revenue from the meeting, the government advertisement as an instrument to reward media are more or less compliant. and again, the state has been using public institutions to go after the target, to target independent media and journalists, putting them under surveillance in many instances making the job of journalists actually very difficult in india. india currently ranks 161 out of 180 in terms of freedom of the press. it is one of the most dangerous countries in the world to exert -- in that profession. haslinda: we know that bjp released its manifesto yesterday. what can you glean from it in terms of policies that can be expected? >> yes, i mean, in many ways, it

is up more of the same. it is the building blocks that have made a success of the bjp and modi. a strong emphasis on public infrastructure and a strong emphasis on public distribution and welfare schemes and the maintenance of the existing subsidy system. what stands out compared to previous manifestoes is how everything is organized around the persona of the prime minister. indian national politics has become more and more centralized and more and more personalized over the past decade. and the manifesto reflects that, the bjp is not even talking about the government or the parties promises but they are modi's promises. everything the state does is presented as a derivative of the generosity of the leader.

and so, it's heavily personalize. in terms of building some major items, yes, there is a lot of continuity. haslinda: that's right. in terms of the impact in particular, the manifesto highlighted its focus on the likes of women, the young, the poor. what does it mean in terms of unemployment? what will be addressed and how much do you put weight on its focus? gilles: so, the focus is there, but it is not exactly sure that the policy solutions are there to address the key issues with the economy. it's actually significant that the government speaks about inclusion, financial inclusion or, and through, through the distribution of welfare, or policy that targets women or use. -- or youth. but they are not exactly addressing the core issues, which is jobless growth, ten years of concentration of

capital in india. india's economy has been rising, one of the fastest growing economies in the world, but the benefit of that growth are immensely concentrated. and these are issues that are not addressed in the manifesto. haslinda: we talk about how modi is popular. is he popular across the country? can he win the support in the south, which has traditionally voted opposition? gilles: so, the south is basically a bass that have resisted so far --a bastian that has resisted the bjp. the prime minister is popular in the states but voters have at their disposal parties that caters to the needs. these are the states that have the most in terms of the economy. they have the most effective states in terms of welfare provision. and so, and these are states

that historically are somewhat reluctant or weary about the tropes of nationalism as they see as a pressure of the northern hindi speaking vision of india's nationalism. and so they sort of stay away from, these are regions also that have very strong regional identities, grounded in language and history and culture. and, and they have actually these models to cling on and so far resisted. but there is no doubt that the popular -- the popularity of modi has really expended. haslinda: thank you for your insights today. thank you. plenty more ahead. this is bloomberg. ♪

haslinda: and the markets muted reaction on the back of iran's attack of israel over the weekend. brent crude down by .02, but above the $90 a barrel mark. oil shrugging off the week and a tech not knowing what may come in the coming hours or days. crude trading more or less unchanged. brent up 20% year to date. crude 81.41.

other energy stocks in positive territory. we are keeping an eye on haven plays. take a look at gold futures, flat, 2374. it is been rising on the back of geopolitical risk buying from central bank including india and china for the u.s. dollar, 1258. vix down currently but elevated at 16.65, a level not seen in very long time. 10-year yield, 4.552. that is it from bloomberg markets: asia. david middle east and africa is next. keep it here with us. this is bloomberg. ♪

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