program, the pristine, untouched beaches of myanmar. warnings that may put the deep south into peril. we are talking about china's economy, seemingly faltering here. that is the verdict after the latest reading on manufacturing a few hours ago. were actually expecting an uptick. instead, we got a downward move in -- a downward move. >> yes. they want to see manufacturing consistently perform. was 48.1. figure anything above 50 is expansionary. the forecast was 48.7. 48.1 is below that. this is at an eight-month low. manufacturing is a big thing.

>> you have got to read the reaction as a proxy for what happens. >> exactly. rand does not react as sensitively, but 7.5% is what they talk to. -- stuck to. it is a preliminary reading. moment, it is a tough read. >> because we have the official data coming up. >> it is a good indicator to warm us up. >> ok. i think that the reaction was a bit of a mixed bag. we did have some on the hang seng. let's get more and get it to set. -- zeb. >> you have a decline for the aussie today. it is trading around .90 u.s.

cents. pmi weaker than expected and suggests lesser commodity demand from china. we are watching the commodities and currencies based on the concern in the market. this is what we see. the asia-pacific indices turning lower. china composite giving up earlier gains. the hang seng holding onto those gains, largely on or print earnings, many of them from chinese companies. investors not dissuaded by the pmi numbers from hsbc. the regional benchmark is seeing a modest bounce. japan and korea are contributing to that. that is what we are seeing across the region. more on what is moving in hong kong in a few moments. ♪ more objects have been spotted floating in the indian

ocean. that is the focus of the search for the missing malaysian aircraft. our correspondent is standing by to give you the latest. in a moment, we will hear from the renewed criticism of the authorities and their handling on the situation. first, let's get the latest on these new images. paul allen is in sydney. >> these images were taken by a french satellite. no size for the object spotted was given, but the location was. 850 meters north of the area, which is currently being searched various planes from various countries, which is interesting, but in many , that theunhelpful debris might have been spotted that far from the search zone. it underlines the difficulty of the task being faced by these crews, who were scouring the ocean. over the weekend, there was more encouraging news, this time from a chinese satellite, which took an image of an object that was

, 22 meters long and 13 meters wide, consistent with a boeing 777 wing. it is impossible to say exactly what this object is until someone can physically lay eyes on it. kilometerss 120 south-southwest of the first satellite images that emerged towards the end of last week. satellite images in hand, the deputy prime minister finds himself in a situation where he is managing expectations. have got to check out all the options. we still do not know for certain that the aircraft is in this area. we are just scratching at whatever piece of information comes along to try to find a place where we might be able to concentrate the efforts. clue in a mystery that is desperately short of them. until someone can confirm what

these objects are, it is open to whether they are connected to the missing malaysian flight or not. >> earlier, you said that there were eight aircraft in this expanded search area. any updates or news on the number? bythere are more resources the day. on friday, there were only 4 planes. now there are 8. they scuppered 59,000 square kilometers of the search area on sunday. a are back out there today and there is more on the way. japan,e coming from china, and india as well. two planes which have longer range and should be a tremendous help as they try to track the location of these objects and try to figure out what they are. not only is it extreme he isolated, but the weather can throw you and today, we had reports that cyclone jillion

maybe forming in the indian ocean. if that does turn into a tropical storm, it will make life very hard for the searchers. >> paul allen there in sydney. 370 hasonse to flight drawn criticism. initially, there were contradictory messages. these have been replaced by an almost streamlined operation. declining to comment on the latest set of satellite images. they have been following the story from the start for us. frustratingularly for families trying to grab onto any bit of information. >> you are right. this is one of the world's great aviation mysteries. the satellite images from france may help solve it. you can imagine the frustration among family members and reporters when malaysian authorities dismissed questions on the latest clues.

they refused to comment. here is what happened. >> it does not exist if it is not on camera. just repeat the statement, if you will. >> i am very sorry. >> we just want to know -- >> very briefly. hide if you trying to you will not explain? is there a big secret that you will not share with us? >> such responses are not helping the criticism of the way malaysian officials are handling the search. the southern corridor has uncovered nothing. no sightings according to australia, which is correlating the operation. ordinating the operation.

>> what do we actually know about these satellite images here? >> we know little. what we know is from a malaysian official who declined to be named. he said the french images were captured on friday. they are estimated to be 500 nautical miles north of where the chinese and australian objects were detected on their satellites. 13 size was about 22 by meters. the problem is the quality of images, fuzzy and very unclear. >> thank you very much indeed. on this right from the start, march 8. ♪ have a look at some of the other stories making headlines through the course of this hour. shanghai general motors has recorded 20 -- has recalled 24,000 vehicles. it is because of an airbag defect. suv's were produced between

august and september in china. -- hyundai is picking big things. many of those sales will be overseas. they had a difficult 2013, a record set of recalls and its first annual profit drop in a decade. ordering 37 planes from airbus. the deal is valued at list price , just under $4 billion. delivery is scheduled to start in 2018. coming up later, protests are -- ing up entire on taiwan. the latest on the simmering tensions as we go live to taipei. ♪ next, stock picks that may benefit the casinos in japan. after the break. ♪

>> date out of china at the moment, manufacturing data. less than expected and having a , reception was quite muted. i guess we have to wait for the official numbers to come through. >> the numbers we got today failed to show a rebound after the lunar new year holiday. in fact, a surprise contraction for the chinese hsbc pmi numbers . we will watch that closely at terms of market impact. the hang seng continues its advance right now. care and industrials among the key stocks that are moving. let's take it closer and look at some of the stocks we are following today. of course, we have the news from

friday, singapore sovereign wealth fund taking a stake in watson. this is part of hutchison whampoa. one of its flagship companies. tracking shares of petrochina because barclays has a note saying it is a bird over sinopec. shares are falling after the company reported profit that was not as strong as analysts estimated. we are watching that closely in this session. tencent holdings, the chinese internet stocks seeing a nearly 2% gain today. buy 50% ofmillion to an online property agency. the property business looks good and tencent looking to get into it. gaming. get details on

the head of japan and the asian what happened in macau. singapore certainly did that. the philippines as well. is japan now -- tell us about this. there are so many benefits from this, not to mention the direct gaming companies themselves. >> you see things like these are tango makers -- these pechinko makers. >> they may lobby to stop this from happening as well. that is the problem. play isnk the macro going forward. the big issue for us is the zoning. the discussion of where they are going to put these places. we are not talking about one sector. it is the whole nation that needs this.

city or going to be one throughout japan? >> this is the thing that no one knows. fukuoka is going to get one for sure. anywhere they can use an infusion of capital infrastructure. basis for a lot of our analysis is looking at stocks that they sneer these. these. near anything in these communities, we're are not talking about just one sector. >> you could be wrong-footed on this one. you could pick a wrong area. it is a lot read. >> well, for the time being. you could be wrong in anything you do. is a highhis probability.

>> a cyclical play. >> this company does two things. it does cement and it is also based in fukuoka. the reason we think polysilicon , it is solardemand panels. the model has been fabricated by government using subsidies for solar panels. they have had a run-up and the market will lose its fever. one of the things we have seen by the german company that did a polysilicon-based solar panel that you can stick on anything. buildings, cars. we think this is going to be -- that we are on the cusp and a change in the structure of demand from government subsidy to consumer products.

these guys are probably the most advanced producer in japan. 40% is cement and building consumables. >> property, that would be another read through. >> we know there have been some big institutional sellers. i do not want to speculate who they are. these sorts of patents, you see a lot of these guys hold it for a month or two. it is a very important part. we have already seen the yen strengthened. is going to yen weaken. all of the things add up to covering shorts and property. the property sector is something we are looking at. buy fort want to specific reasons. >> you have got to ask what the market is like in certain parts of japan.

>> there is no way to make any money in these robberies they have bought. they havee properties bought. there is a lot of support for markets. going downecessarily -- no one is taking any gains. >> i suppose a lot of the people believe that the yen could go weaker. places or looked at regions in japan. as a foreigner buying a yen-based asset, i think you are taking a huge risk. look.l, let's take a they are looking at the same things as they gear up for -- and taiwan is also looking at this too. they want to cash in from the chinese boom and the love of gambling.

>> that is way beyond my ex these. -- my expertise. was thatesting thing when the story broke, i think korea too was looking at expanding. everyone wants to get in on this game. they really responded in terms of selling. >> we have had comments coming out that they have been salivating about building in japan. it may be a japanese solution to all of this and you do not get these huge buildings like the venetian, not just in vegas but on the coach i strip. -- on the other strip. >> with the americans coming in with their casinos, we certainly hope that is the case because they have the tendency to overcompensate. -- overcomplicate.

take a fun idea and mess it up with forms and stuff. we hope it will be more like macau than anywhere else. >> more on this discussion in about 10 minutes. coming up, dreamworks. this time, it is not in hollywood. a special report is next. ♪

>> welcome back to "asia edge".

shanghai is rapidly becoming a major hub for the film industry. is joining disney and spending millions of dollars on a property. is joining disney and spending millions of dollars on a property. team, the original dream but for asia, it is these men, teaming up to build a complex in shanghai. >> this is a chance for us to create a one-of-a-kind cultural and entertainment center right here in the heart of shanghai. perhaps, to the massive shanghai disneyland? >> many think they are complementary. they do not compete in any way. like he may not admit it, but the perception is that he is doing what he did 20 years ago when he cofounded dreamworks. ands taking on disney

surrounding himself with heavy hitters. >> you could not find better partners to be working with. we all shared one vision. >> and that is to transform this industrial site into the broadway or hollywood of china. this is a behind the scenes look. we are basically in a derelict cement factory that will be dreamworks center in asia. it is kind of cool, industrial, chic, old shanghai. this reporter could not resist poking around. >> you could not believe how many jagged edges there are. now how do i get down? this is going to be the boardwalk along the want to the river in the new dream center complex. you will have to use your imagination. or chili for dreamworks, that is the job that they are in. dreamworks,ly for

that is the job they are in. all of this will be renovated by the time the dream center opens. a similar transformation is happening here. nearby neighborhoods have been razed. all that is left is a loan shop selling cigarettes. lone shop selling cigarettes. >> i will be here another two months at most and then i will have to move. there is nobody left. i have all moved out. >> worries not about the health of china's investment-driven growth. >> developers are having problems in china. but there is a reason for it. i think the property prices were getting crazy. the ug as you work with think you can afford and do not get yourself in a hot water, you are fine. >> you can see the future disneyland site in the distance. the areas around here, there were some homes and small factories. check this out. a giant shoe.

obviously, they made some shoes or sold some shoes. the big hollywood studios, they are leaving their footprint. and we will be watching every step. >> let's have a look at what is happening on the hang seng. back earbit of a knock lier. slightly weaker than expected purchasers managed -- purchasing managers index data from china. the first data point for march. the afternoon business in tokyo as well. advances that amounted to about 1.8%. the reopened his next. ♪

>> in taiwan, students step up their protest in a trade deal against china. final tourism's frontiers. development is coming to myanmar's remote southern shores. and it is baseball night. we are live in sydney. the search for the missing malaysian aircraft continues. three weeks after it

disappeared. cloudy conditions over the site. are involved, covering nearly 70,000 kilometers. the weather is expected to deteriorate today with the rain forecast. as we enter the third week, more resources are being drafted in to help with the search. a fleet that includes aircraft from australia, new zealand, china, and the united states. it disappeared off the radar on the eighth of march and nothing has been found since. china says one of its satellites was spotted possibly in the indian ocean and has sent ships to try to verify the siding. another satellite image attempted to find the object floating in the sea. nothing has actually been found.

earlier, we spoke to john laxton from the international couldsity and he said it be a long time before anything is found. >> the initial satellite imagery came out 4 days after the photograph was taken. andet that analysis done report it to the public takes a long time. you have got to collect the image. you have to process the image. you have to scan and detail the data. you have to identify the object and verify that what you are seeing is what you think it is. ntsb member says the surge is being carried out slowly and methodically. every piece of data will be analyzed. >> when you have primary radar as the source of information, it is not the most reliable source. you have to smooth up those keep it ints to perspective. this is really a jigsaw puzzle and it is a difficult jigsaw

puzzle to solve. we need to take our time and make sure we get all of the clues right. the radar data has to be analyzed. it is very tedious to analyze radar data. of this has been with the malaysian handling of the situation, information about the missing flight. at griffithriticism university. it is vital that authorities avoid confusion. >> the golden rule of crisis communication and disaster communication is speak with one voice. you can have many voices, but speak with one message. there needs to be a lot of work from this point onwards. as time goes on, the mystery continues. there needs to be a lot of work in the background and coordination between the airline, the government authorities. different speakers, sure, but the message must be consistent.

>> president barack obama is flying to europe as we speak. he is consulting with allies on the worsening crisis in ukraine. russian forces have stolen a number of military bases in the ukrainian government has deployed troops along the border. russian president vladimir putin says he has no intention of invading, but the chances of war are rising and they will do what they can to defend the country. washington has imposed sanctions on 27 russian officials and 2 ukrainians. it has also authorized sanctions , includinges financial services, energy, defense, and engineering. let's take a look at student protesters.

they have briefly invaded taiwan's cabinet offices. against a wide-ranging deal with beijing. let's take a look at attention. ross joins us now from taipei. great of you to join us. how bad are things here? thistudents claim that trade deal is bad for taiwan. wille end of the day, it lead to the subjugation of the taiwanese islands into china. >> well, there are different issues at play here. one is closer political integration with china and the other is economic integration. part of the basis for the protests, people are concerned about competition for jobs if there is a greater liberalization of trade with china. it is not only a political question, it is economic as well. >> let's discuss the economic angles. it is being seen by many as

being a win-win deal. what is your view? >> i would tend to agree. the future of taiwan's economy is based on growth in the services sector. traditional industry manufacturing has largely departed to china. , value-addedi.t. manufacturing has also departed to china. the future is services. this is about liberalizing trade and services. the long-term bet would be to grow this sector and be willing to participate in the growth of this sector. i think we see that a majority of people in taiwan are in favor of this agreement. perhaps they would like to see a greater vetting of the details of the agreement in the legislature and greater explanations by the government. i think the majority of people do support this agreement because they know how important

it is to the future of the economy. presidentout what the does next question mark does he listen to the students -- does next? does he listen to the students? if they shelled the deal, -- if they shelve the deal, would it have another bad impact? >> i do not think president shelve thea will agreement. he will look for whatever method he can to get this approved in taiwan's parliament. stronger relations with china are part of his policy goals. it is an important part of his legacy that he hopes to leave taiwan with when his term ends. heater economic integration, makes a strong argument that it is important and something he is clearly intent on seeing through. he has already had several achievements in this area. one would be a trade of goods agreement that was signed a few

years ago. the opening of china -- of taiwan's tourism business has also created a lot of opportunities. >> i am going to get us some pictures of what is happening in the legislature right now. are continuing their opposition. they have briefly occupied the cabinet offices for, being thrown out of theire -- out of there. they have been calling for the premier's head in a figurative manner. there is a denial taking place of the cabinet office here as well. this is what they are calling for. the service trade agreement to be sent back. if it was, that would also undermine taiwan's ability to sign other deals, such as a transpacific partnership, for

instance. >> that is an excellent point and something that is important to president ma. he would like to get taiwan invited to participate in the aseanal agreement between and northeastern trading partners. taiwan's credibility to go into those negotiations would take a serious hit if this agreement is rejected by the people or legislature of taiwan. know, moste you trade agreements are agreed to in their entirety. the trading partners do not want to see it picked apart section by section in parliament. participate,ts to they need to show that they can get political approval for a trade agreement. >> great talking to you as ever. back to flight 370, more

debris has been found in the indian ocean. australia's cameron price. we have these images coming through and they remain fairly indistinct. do we know anything more? morning from the base near perth. this is the third satellite image that has been picked up in the past week. the first was an australian satellite last tuesday. then a chinese picked up an object in the south indian ocean last tuesday. then a french image from a french satellite. it shows potential debris. the problem is, it is a different area than what the search crews have been focusing on. it is some 850 kilometers to the north. a lot of assets have been never did to that area, trying to locate just what the french satellite picked up.

there are 10 airplanes in the air today. top-secret two chinese high-tech aircraft. they are very sophisticated surveillance aircraft. japanese aircraft will join the search in about 2.5 hours time. , it looksng is gorgeous, the weather in perth. 2500earch area is kilometers away and things are not looking great weatherwise. >> that is right. the weather conditions are going to deteriorate throughout today. there is a cyclone around 1000 kilometers to the north of the search area. obviously, it might be a tropical cyclone if it reaches there, and it will bring fairly tumultuous weather. difficult search conditions for

all crews. the race is on to use today's conditions to try to locate something. authorities said they would be able to identify a crash site in virtually any object they could find. be it a safety card, a wooden pallet, which was believed to have been spotted yesterday and could not be located a second time could all of those things could identify the crash site if they were able to locate it. >> thank you for that. cameron price joining us from perth. there was a flight between kuala lumpur and seoul diver to hong kong and that was due to a power generator from an unscheduled stop taking place in hong kong. happened.what come, sunrise brokers, stock picks are china, a casino,

an airline, and an oil company. find out what he thinks of them and who they are. ♪

>> we are back. this is "asia edge". ben, we had the slight disappointment out of manufacturing today. are you reading too much into it? >> i think so. obviously, it is the best leading indicator of the -- >> it is the first bit of march, anyway. >> there is an awful lot of pessimism priced into the market already. significant, but the first thing after it, more stimulus was needed.

it was neither here nor there. we do have some flexibility in policy. tradea somewhat laborious to hang onto, but you have to hang in there. it is not so much the manufacturing side that is troubling the investors at the moment. there is still the shadow banking issue. larger banks issuing stock to pay a dividend, that seems a little odd. isortunately, what it does makes other large, blue-chip, otherwise safe companies comparatively more expensive. -- e kind of shenanigans >> great word. shenanigans. >> it is not something that makes people enthusiastic about voting the banks. holding the banks.

>> how does china affect japan, if at all? at japan, it is a very accessible market. there are some things that i think will fold over or influence. as far as money out of japan had china,ina -- and into japan is a self-contained unit. goes, as china accessibility is becoming a greater issue. the ability to move money out of japan and into china is something that is an ongoing trend. something that is increasing. it is a difficult thing to trade. japan was out on friday and we saw a rallying. speakingvernor was about they are halfway towards

their inflation goal. does that encourage you? >> still have a long way to go. >> exactly. 1% --from 2% is kind of a big deal. i do not know how you mentioned -- mention them. japan's natural inclination is towards deflation. the headlines before we came on air today, extending foreign workers in japan or opening up these -- >> considering. a lot of people say it is something they should have done a long time ago. japan, there are still a lot of things that they should have done a long time ago to avoid being in this. ,> china looks at them and says

we do not want to go down the same route. >> certainly so. when we were talking about china, this was one of the things i wanted to mention. china pulling back on the notulus, yet pmi coming in necessarily where people want them to be and chinese officials saying we will support construction projects here and there. what gives? seems like they are following the same path. >> by and large, yes. a little more spend. they are going through a process of clearing up the local governments. a friend of mine back in the u.k., he is going with a delegation from the u.k. to see a bunch of local politicians. want tos like, if you build a factory, you can do whatever you want. >> he wants to build a factory in china? >> yes.

an industry like our production. -- car production. hands.a wink, shake if you want to build a factory, it is ready much build it where -- pretty much build it wherever you want and we will help you. >> let's embrace change. >> c-nook, no one likes it. will they also embrace change? it turned into what, i do not know. down 25% the last 12 months. >> it was a bag of underperformance. we started taking a little bit in and advising our clients to take some in. now we are reducing it a little

bit because the market feels shaky. when itto take 4% presents it. a lot of it has been sold. a lot of our strategy is not rocket science. for bull markets that have factored in a lot of bad news. again, it is all relative. you look at the mobile realm on friday, only up 1%. 6%, sos crap relative to we are going to sell it. you have got to be fast. it is probably going to go higher, but we are losing some stock here. birthday, zeb. >> 21. i am going to the bar. >> have a holiday. >> we will have a drink. the firsto come, pitch in major league baseball.

it is coming from sydney. right after this. ♪

baseball season is underway after an opening weekend far away from home. sydney was the scene. the dodgers and the diamondbacks. and were youl there savoring the atmosphere? what was the atmosphere like? >> i have savored a lot of atmosphere. managed to have a look in, the australian side was playing the diamondbacks. 100,000 tickets were sold. a very positive result.

we saw a well-prepared to her of our of australia to open up the major league baseball seen. -- scene. by and large, the games were received really only by the public. -- brilliantly by the public. it was actually eight years in the making. major leagueang operations and said, what would it take to stage a game? he found out. the economic benefit to australia was considerable. a terrific result and a buzz which took over sydney. baseball bats everywhere. sign that people really embrace the american sporting culture, which does have a hard-core following. there are over 28

australians who play in the major leagues in australia. the game does have a major following. certainly, expectations were surpassed. , whichalk about rugby dominates australian sport alongside australian rules. we have cricket on top of that and a nascent football or soccer culture in a country which has the population of metropolitan tokyo. at the end of the day, is there room for sports like baseball or american football as well? >> there is one thing you missed out on. culture -- youly would not call australia a bastion of fine art. the only thing the country excels at is sport and its love of sport. is there any room? of course there is room. it is about price points in australia.

it is a touch on the expensive side. by and large, people love getting out and doing things. it is a very active place. one place you do not want to be indoors. events reallys or put the country on the map and is how australia defines itself, as a major event country. it is not just the major leaguers. the nfl has played games here and the country still basks in the glory of the olympics they had here most 15 years ago now. can they handle it? well.k it would go quite again, long-lasting effects remain to be seen. >> joining us from sydney on the first game of the baseball season. in u.s. baseball season sydney, of all places. a quick look at the markets

before we leave this edition of "asia edge". there we go. shanghai still up by .5%. shrugging off the pmi data, which was weaker than anticipated. i will see you tomorrow. ♪

>> these statements have not been evaluated by the fda. this food is not diagnosed