practice monday, the 30th of march. i am shery ahn. this is trending business. we will be live in singapore and beijing this hour, but first we production fell almost twice as much last month. moore's realist to come in china. the governor says he's ill has room to act.

is moving beyond the borders. you can tell us more about what you think. don't forget to include the #. china and hong kong get underway and around 30 minutes. market andook at the what is happening so far. on: singapore a bit lower. the worst in january. a fantastic victory for australia in the world cup.

all of that down to commodities. the energy stocks and resource docs. stocks.rce greece must not have been much. we got a lot of comment. in september.ely the numbers are really backing up for a rate rise soon. picture for asia. australia is willing the brunt of that. --shery ahn: let's head to japan. apple fell from a month ago, adding to's signs of weakness --

adding to signs of weakness. yvonne those numbers falling much more than forecast, adding to the pressure from all the data we got last week from japan. we had consumer spending drop. 3.4% from january after it rose 3.7%. it was a big miss. some say the recovery from the recession last year may not be as strong as we first thought. it just goes to show february was a month of holidays in months of asia. curbing export demand, further reducing production. it is difficult to see the nation coming through with strong growth momentum this year. the 2% inflation target is a far

cry from that. the boj governor kuroda mentioning there is no rush for stimulus yet. they are asked acting possibles millis at the end of the second half of this year. we saw the value of overseas shipment telling on month. really worth following eight point express and -- investment falling eight .6%. >> china's central bank hovered are saying growth in the second -- governor said growth grew a little less antics acted. the feeling is -- less than expected. the feeling was that china had less to do with it. give us the details. both the central bank spoke atand president

the for them about -- four of -- forum. inflation is declining. to see if be vigilant deflation will happen. patients was needed to see if the steps china has taken are working. china has plenty of room to act. this fits in with expectations there will be further rate cuts. meet theure china does growth target. the president said china's economy was take. it had huge potential and plenty focused onools. he the ways china could boost its own growth along with the region. about the asian infrastructure bank.

quite a team. shery ahn: thanks a lot. we can take a detailed look at the story later in the show. we want your opinion, so please tweet your opinion. let's take a look at some of your other stories we are is david.here david: let's talk luck shriek earnings, feeling the pinch of this going chinese economy. 450 million euros. revenue was down 1%. the cheaper euro helped sales in the latter part of 2014, but overall the company said it was a challenging year given the political tensions and uncertainty in several import markets. fewerre planning on

openings. take a look at shares of product. -- prada. we have seen a drop. we are well below levels of last year. the stock he get over 80 hong kong dollars a pop -- peaked at over 80 hong kong dollars a pop. let's talk about this cyber attack. questions are being raised over the roles of chinese hackers. attack is whathe s caller security analyst a reflection attack when traffic is redirect did -- redirected. the wall street journal reporting the attack may have originated in china and passed through baidu.

it has moved to the brick and mortar world of mining. has been this contentious issue of limiting the output of iron ore. it has collapsed since last year. the drop has been more severe than what we have seen an oil price is because of the supply got in the market. we spoke to the billionaire chairman. he defended his opinion they should limit out put. national interest does not help. -- husband to has best we can.

that is what fort eskew has done. cue has done. we did not expand. david: you heard that there. china iron ore prices are down 55% said last year. shery ahn: coming up later in the show, what we are watching this week, from manufacturing in china to the jobs report in the state. questions, you can send them. # not forget to include trendingbusiness. more than 100,000 mourners remember the founding father lee kuan yew. ♪

shery ahn: singapore has said farewell to founding mother leak on you -- lee kuan yew after an emotional funeral. haslinda, it has in a difficult week for singapore. haslinda: absolutely, a difficult day emotionally. singapore is not likely to ever see such outpourings of emotions in the country. yesterday the state funeral was held. tens of thousands of people took to the street from as early as 9 a.m. they want to pay tribute to the man who changed the fortunes of singapore from backwater to one of the richest in the world. many came dressed in black and white, mourning colors. some seen draping the national flag on them, and many shouted the name lee kuan yew out loud.

they sing the national anthem and the pledge as well. many feeling inc. full for the -- thankful for the life they have built. i want to bring in our guest. he was singapore's ambassador to geneva. good morning. lots of people from overseas a their respect -- pay their respects, including prime minister modi. what is the significant? >> in many ways the newport can be regarded as one of the closest in the region. they have believe india will withtremendous progress. prime minister modi as prime

minister, the destiny could be met. the presences seen in not light. -- in that light. to be fair, lee kuan yew was critical of india in the early days. >> it is said one reserves the one they are to attached. mr. lee kuan yew was attacked to india. haslinda: he was frustrated. >> he was frustrated, but how else are you going to get them buddy to say, wake up and -- get up and see say, wake what can be done. that is what happened.

singapore was there to take advantage of that and to work with india in moving forward. there was a cartoon. share with us. rate, and a giant prostat lee kuan yew whispering, wake up, india. there is a thought mr. lee kuan yew is it halting indian leaders -- exalting lee kuan yew. haslinda: we know indians contributed to sing up or's growth. growth.pore's

how do you see the relationship going forward? baggage -- the any see any baggage. we look at india being a springboard. hereact 6000 companies are -- singapore is too small to absorb all of them. we make it a point to make this place has visible for indian companies. -- indispensable for indian companies. they have established a way to train workers. we have six or seven indian banks operating. these are all manifest asians of india's business year, and -- here, and singapore is welcome. haslinda: critics say it is set

a small city state that things can work resize sleeve -- precisely because of it size. >> look at the cleaning of the river. they managed to do it over 20 years. you can take it as an example and cleanup just one river. is like be encapsulated we did in china. one city. now the chinese have used that build 60 other cities in the rest of china. >> we have to leave it there. >> thanks a lot. amin in singapore.

>> forensic teams have from 78 of the people killed in the plane that crashed in the french alps area nisource says the copilot -- french alps area. a sort says copilot was suffering a cyclist emetic illness. a doctors note would have asked used him -- psychosomatic illness. a doctors note would have dismissed him from flying. the iran nuclear talks resume this morning with each side paying the other should make tough choices. this is the deadline for a framework agreement that would limit the ability to make an atomic bomb that would go some way to lifting economic isolation. israel has expressed concerns. a new crew has arrived at the international space nation for a

year-long mission in orbit. they will be spending 342 days, twice as long as normal. it is nasa's first attempt at a one-year mission. russiansans -- four have spent a year in space. the identical twin will carry out the same as berman on earth to the how the body compares when the genetic double is in orbit. quite lots more's tilt to come. -- >> lots more's the to come. we will hear from kevin rudd, including why he is not worried about the lowdown in china. stay with us -- slowdown in china. stay with us. ♪

shery ahn: welcome back. the stories making headlines. chinese railway companies are benefiting from the promotion of service is. earnings are due later today for china railway. we are expecting record profits. at the same time, shares will be suspended today as the regulatory commission reviews the plans to merge. refining the increase in for your profits. explorer inoffshore

china said it rose to nine point $7 billion last year. that is a product of cutting the production cost for a barrel of oil and increasing output. the shares were up 3.5%. there is a bit of 15 euros a share on the table, that -- bid of 15 euros a share on the table. a better offer may come. speaking to the financial times, needss rally -- pirelli an asian partner. they may see the economies lowing of it faster than it acted -- slowing a bit faster than expected. these should not be too alarming.

up with thee caught forum in china. >> i have seen the collapse, and so far they have in a long time coming. sure, there is going to be a slowdown. if you look at the industrialized countries, we go throughh -- high-growth and medium high growth before it reverts to normal. china is between the first and second phase. any economic his dorian will tell you that. >> and chinese imports as well. iron ore is tanking. how do you see this resolving? us didn't of commodities, -- a student of

commodities, as we have to be -- it's cyclical. >> at the end of the world these things come and go. it is entirely normal in terms of what is happening. if we were standing here five years ago most of them would have obtained five-year iron ore producers. that's what about the asia infrastructure invest in bank. it seems to be divided between the united states on one side and the rest of the world on the other. >> i never speak of the australian government because i am not it anymore. here is the bottom line. from the beginning with the proposal was put forward i supported it. asia has a massive infrastructure development need. we have a shortage of global capital willing to invest in it. a real challenge is to use globalpublic capital --

public capital. it's good for global growth. global growth is fairly flat at the moment. shery ahn: coming up next, more warnings on lowing china, but the central bank governor says he has the tools to handle it. we will be live in beijing with more. the markets in hong kong and shanghai getting underway varies in. when weopening numbers return. we will get you the latest on those. ♪ .

shery ahn: the top stories. china's central bank chief said his country growth rate has fallen a bit too much. but there is room to respond. zhou xiaochun told a forum the bank can use quantitative measures. the slow down in china has hit luxury brand, prada. chineseed 28% as fewer shoppers splurge on luxury handbags.

they will offer a lower price ranges. japan's industrial fell more adding to pressure from a drop in consumer spending and faltering inflation. it declined 3.4% from january as in the week's data since june -- weakest data since june. for more on that, here is james. the data was much worse than expected. it was of a cause of the lunar new year or were there other factors? definitely, the lunar new in the pooractor production data. asig jump in january companies were producing for the lunar new year holiday. it is not the only thing that caused the slot. -- slump. while there is a seasonal factor, it is not looking good for japanese production. group inlmost every

the index across all of the industrial japan. it was not a good result. much worse than people expected. shery ahn: james, what is the outlook for output? and the overall economy because with had a series of bad data. cpi, consumer spending. what can we expect? data: you look at today's and we have march, it it looks 1% int increased about the quarter and not as strong in the quarter of last year when production rose. is meant is the economic recovery from last year's recession was weaker than expected print a slowing growth rate for the first quarter in gdp growth will not be very strong.

as you say, household spending and inflation has hit a zero in retail sales fell in february. across the board, these are battered numbers for japan. while the government and bank of japan says they'll falling oil prices will have an effect, it will boost spending. definitely not seeing those effects right now. the only thing we are seeing is inflation is basically as zero. not good for japan. shery ahn: damas & effort quite a while now. james mayger, thank you. in, they have been saying that for quite a while now. ahn: they have been saying that for quite a while now. [indiscernible] john: more of these indices and australia is down. oil prices are down. and also platinum.

very heavily weighted resource. i want to show you individual stocks that are moving around today. we can see from this, does the barclays which is the top japanese pick. it moved. sony is down. and barclays top picks. kong, chinaong after shares arising 9%. [indiscernible] estimates. consumer airline on the up. 3.5%. better than forecast. the encouraging areas. the airlines in china. as if oil prices

have been following. shery ahn: staying in china, central bank minister said zhou xiaochun things have slowed a little bit too much and the overall message from xi jinping was china does how the tools to deal with it. both were speaking at a forum. christine hah has more. what can you tell us? addressed growth at the for but different angles. but differentm angles. zhou said inflation is declining and we need to be vigilant to see the trend will continue if inflation will happen. and china has room to act on many policy levels. we saw worse than expected industrial data and target

slower. comingt see jobs the effective. they said were not to be acceptable. and guess what many consumers expected. the benchmark rate. shery ahn: christine, president xi jinping spoke but i believe he delivered a more rousing message. what did he say? aboutine: he talks china's economy and availability of policy tools at hand and the opportunity to address concerns about doing business in china. china is open to fair business here. hear what he has to say. xi jinping: china will only become more open and our policies on foreign investment will not change. the protection of the legal rights of foreign investment

enterprises will remain unchanged and our efforts to provide better services to foreign investors will always remain unchanged. christine: he talked about the $40 billion economic which targets countries and the asian infrastructure which will market.to larger asian so far, the only major economies that have not signed on our u.s. and japan. the leadership role in the region. and a turnaround and talking about [indiscernible] all of this feeding into tapering. zhou was pushing to christine lagarde last week. we will see more in the coming weeks. shery ahn: definitely well. china pushing for the yuan.

christine hah. other stories we are following. india has cut interest rates twice of this year but it may not fully be passed on to borrowers. 43 out of 47 banks have refrained from cutting hikes. they are urging the r.b.i. two/-- to slash reserve requirements per some say it would free up more than $70 billion. mercedes-benz is pushing the limits for market share with plans to develop a midsized pickup truck by 2020, according to "the wall street journal." and talks with the nissan it would be based on nissan's pickup truck. facebook is looking to add more friends in china as setting to wage a charm campaign to attract

chinese advertising. wall street journal said they are hiring in hong kong. ceo mark zuckerberg is trying to raise facebook's profile by meeting with regulators. let's take a look at product. like this.ing at the slow down in china hurting areindustry as fewer people less likely to splurge on handbags. reporter: that is what they said in a statement. they said the efax all the major overhaul we may not be able to see it until later next year. they said last year was a complicated time for them. more so than expected. fortune $91 million, quite a mess -- $491 million, quite a mess. sales fell.

talk about slowdown in growth. operatingting prada's margin. the currency fluctuation and weak euro had a negative impact on sales. and then a positive contribution and helped sales recover in the past few months. they did say they saw growth in japan and the u.s. but decreases in europe and the rest of asia pacific. hong kong was deteriorating their, 40% down overall in the industry. the first annual drop in retail sales since 2003 in hong kong. shery ahn: chinese london is definitely hurting prada. worse than expected numbers from japan. are there any bright spots on the economic horizon? we will take a look after the break. ♪

david: the stories making headlines. to europe, a second body has been found in the building collapse. both victims were reportedly in a ground-floor sushi restaurant in a building which a level. the mayor said someone may have a gas line before the explosion which injured 22 other people. 4 critically. forensic teams have identified dna out of 150 people killed on the germanwings crash. a source close to the investigation says the copilot, andreas lubitz, was suffering from a psychosomatic illness.

wouldnot know if it excuse him from flying on the day of the crash. it is said that lubitz deliberately crashed after locking the pilot out of the cockpit. singapore has bid an emotional farewell to lee kuan yew. it's a dream world leaders. -- it drew world leaders. strauss a gathered and the -- the coffinered and was carried by carriages. shery ahn: japan's factory output fell more than it acted in february. we have a key barometer. economic health. levy key barometer of economic health. richard is a chief economist at the bank of singapore.

richard, we have the bank of japan easing and more stimulus measures. why is it not reflected in the data? richard: i think it has been reflected in the data. it is very choppy especially around the start of the year. h rent that has been an improvement since they easing of last over -- october a you will see that. and especially the large manufacturing companies and they should show quite a step up. some it well to positive territory. that will be quite evident. than thetter indicator month-to-month numbers because they are so volatile and they can give you a bad message. shery ahn: how about consumer prices? they do not gain at all. zero. -- self hike and you have

this is sentiment might be better but what about the rest of the economy? -- business sentiment might be better but what about the rest of the economy? richard: it includes energy and that core measure that the bank of japan is targeting. probably will pick up quite significantly later in the year because you have quite a positive drop coming through over the past few weeks. it is clear the wage growth can not accelerate and markedly from last year. companies are making a lot of money. basically the tightest they have been in over two decades. you should expect that will feed into better consumer spending numbers as well. shery ahn: labor union numbers for thee hike of 2.4%

year. is that a good hike? is that was we are expecting? richard: better than what is expected. the overall improvement from nths your is a few te better -- and give you reasonable pick up in wages. not enough to get a 2% inflation target. probably good enough to get them in a 1%-2% range by the end of the year. the bank of japan can probably start things that our job is pretty much it done. they have installed moderate amount of wage growth. from that point of view, i do not think there will be a need for them to ease policy anymore. the markets are expecting more easing but i do not know why they would do that. that mandate is almost more fulfilled. shery ahn: you do not expect

japan to ease anymore but what about china? pmi on the official wednesday, what should we expect? china is looking more worrying. there will be a need for more easing over there. i am quite worried because in recent four or five years, you've seen this growth and the growth has picked up quite quickly and the pmi's has bumped above 50. very striking in the past few months, said the easing policy but the pmi is below 50 in at the numbers. it is worrying the economy has not responded like in the past problemslls you the have become more intense. -- in easing more but not necessarily another to give them the bounce they had in the past. shery ahn: let's head over quickly to europe because we

have the president addressing lawmakers. what about the downgrade of greece? how bad our conditions of their? we do not know how much money they have. richard: they seem to be running out of money quickly. they are looking for loose change told pay pensions with. the problem is he is promising the greek people and the greek parliament one thing and the rest of europe something else. it is hard to see how they will disperse the remainder of the second program unless he can deliver reforms. delivere going to reforms considering the opposition domestically? serious situation they will run out of money by the end of the month. whether it matters to the rest of the world is questionable now. you could get a bit of short-term turbulence if things blow up. shery ahn: yeah and the imf deadline. you forjerram, thank

joining us. chief economist at the bank of singapore. coming up next, australia celebrates a victory after a long world cup. we will check the reaction on social media. ♪

shery ahn: welcome back. celebrity chef oliver said he will introduce is arsenal test on off drinks to help fight obesity while pushing other outlets and governments tell fight soon. jamie oliver made the remarks for a global petition of the g 20 to improve education for children. --ie oliver: i am in the op reporter: i am in the opera house with jamie oliver. you have your petition in sydney, why?

jamie oliver: because it is visual and i am here. reporter: tell us about the campaign. it is simple. how many years will go on while we watch everything the way it was? whereear was interesting more people died a diet related diseases. this a global campaign which i will be taking to the g-20. beingabout one thing -- human rights and have access to practical food education in school. that is it. revolutionary day. i know people care. i know i am not talking like that is so romantic. paul: the g-20 probably cares. there is a lot for them to agree and doing something.

energyi maintain my because you have got to be patient. you have to be relentless. do you findt extent your business is complementing something like this? differenthave platforms. the tax in britain is fair in my opinion. they will not think it is fair. sales will drop off a bit freaked is a good for public health? do we need that money? yes. i'm told about taxing soda before the government does. -- i am talking about taxing soda before the government does. i am trying to structure it at the moment and work out how i do not just implement it in the u.k. but internationally. it will happen. until thel happen government does it for us. i will be asking other breast

run groups to do the same. and i know businesses run by chefs will agree because we believe in kids and cooking and the importance. you have to remember that most food businesses are not run by cooks or growers, numbers mean a lot. so, they -- [laughter] what is trending on social media. here is david. by a massiveoined cricket fan, even on a man. -- yvonne mann. the big win. let me kick things off with the captain, he tweeted out. the party captain of the cricket team. he didn't really tweet this. the picture of what he did show. fairly emotional. there you go. from the captain himself.

people watched live. i'm sure many watched in their home. including the prime minister, tony abbott. he tweeted this picture out for -- picture out. he was in singapore. yvonne: clark mentioned about -- his former teammate that died a few months ago after been struck by a cricket ball. i want to talk about the coach. they were out celebrating after the big win, so they were tweeting out pictures of them having fun. one saying still going with the kings and going hard. that is from him. theket au tweeting out -- night everything turned australian gold. it was sort of a perfect again. david: gold prices are trading

up. thank you. coming up on "trending business," the number 23 worked for michael jordan. ♪

it's monday, march 30, and this is "trending business." we will this hour, but first, here is what we are watching. twice ass in japan, much as forecasted, attic to the pressure of faltering inflation and the drop in consumer spending. more stimulus to come in china. the governor says he still has room to act after telling the

forum that the slowdown has gone too far. a final farewell -- singapore says goodbye to the founding father. you can let us know what you think of today's top stories by following me on twitter, and don't forget to include the hashtag #trendingbusiness. we will be live in jakarta later this hour, but here is what is going on so far. john: one area that is getting a look -- the airlines in china. they are beating estimates. today we had figures out from china. much companies are very growing out of hong kong and the chinese market. 10%, there is up china up 9%, strong performance.

also a list we have in the charts right now -- from australia, seeing more gains before the airlines go toward shanghai. we see a slight gain in jakarta. hong kong and china are very earnings are quite encouraging in the chinese market is up 1%. course, equipment -- all these -- taiwan is the big story today. australia is dropping lower

despite the world cup. of very great team of australians. shery ahn: thank you. let's turn now to japan, where we saw a slump in industrial production in february, following three points. signs of weakness in the second largest asian economy. yvonne? yvonne: economists are saying it might be too early to start saying that this economy is optimistic. the recovery of japan's economy still seems to be quite fragile, but that slump you just mentioned in outputs are falling well below the estimates that what people were seeing in the streets, and adding pressure are

the numbers we saw last week when consumer spending fell. ,ore inflation has lacked to 0% a big mess. -- miss. we saw a 3.4% decline. again, talking about this recovery, people think many parts of asia impacted at -- export demand in japan is furthering reduction and production. say it ismists difficult to see if there is any kind of growth momentum right now. cry 2% target rate is a far from what we are seeing right now because oil prices are dragging down inflation. we heard from the governor that they are not in any rush to add stimulus. most economies are expecting in the second half of the year. we have data coming in from the overseas shipment. 7% in february.

shery. shery ahn: we will take a closer look at the story later in the show. we want your opinion, so please tweet us your thoughts, and include the hashtag #trendingbu siness. the central bank governors saying that growth in the world's second-largest economy has slowed a little too much. the overall message from him and the chinese president is that china has the tools to deal with it. will were speaking at the world forum over the weekend. christine has more. christine: hi. both talked about the slowing but the chinese president was the one sounding the more cautious note. he talked about the disinflation trend and that we need to watch for deflation risk, but he did

also stress room for policy moves. they focused on china's a $40ial and talked about billion surplus in the asian infrastructure investment bank. most economies have signed on except for the u.s. and japan. australia announced it will join. for the project, china is leading the way for financing u.n. bond sales, from companies and institutions and they will encourage them to raise funds overseas. all of this is boosting the case to include the u.n. and the imf special filing rights. to that end, they say china will enjoy this year. shery ahn: thank you.

let's take a look at some of the other stories we are watching. david: let's talk about greece. country andn the its creditors were described by a greek official as "meaningful, detailed, and cooperative." the prime minister is set to give an update to lawmakers early tomorrow morning. ministere finance assume a 1.5% surplus, 3 million --os in additional revenues 3 billion euros in additional revenue. something which the chief economist back in london said is unlikely and difficult to see happening. i want to talk about the euro while we are at it. that right side is where the euro rebounded.

it suddenlyppened, spiked to a 16 year high. it shot up to over 220,000, and it gives you a level where the market seems to be content editing against the currency. let's talk luxury earnings. another high-end brand feeling the pinch. almost 40%.ome fell of the cheaper euro was helping things along, but it was not enough to offset the overall challenge of the company, uncertainty in their important markets. they are planning to open fewer stores and introduce more bags priced below 1200 euros. a bargain, relatively speaking.

we have seen a recovery in shares of product. -- of prada. as you can see, they are still well to the level of last year. digital.k the ongoing cyberattacks is the popular trend in the u.s. questions are being raised over the role of chinese hackers. attackure of the cyber is what security analysts call a reflection attack, when traffic is redirected causing a denial of service. that the attack originated in china and passed through search engines. shery ahn: thank you.

followingory we are is the negotiations over iran's nuclear program and the impact on oil exports. indonesia bags more than 17 million in investment. we will be life in jakarta with a look at where the big money is going. break, we will be live in singapore to see where the nation goes now after saying a final farewell to founding fathers. ♪

shery ahn: welcome back. singapore bids and emotional farewell to its founding father. thousands lined the streets to say goodbye. our southeast asia correspondent joins us now. a tough week for singapore.

a tough week and a tough day when the funeral was held yesterday. tens of thousands of singaporeans lined the street to get a glimpse, wanting to bid farewell, the final farewell for the first prime minister of the country. bute was torrential rain they turned up as early as 9:00 in the morning to get a glimpse. dressed in black and white, many with a flag draped on their bodies. they sent their thanks and saying the national anthem. patriotism, something that is very unusual for singapore. people here are pretty unemotional. seldom do they show their emotions, especially in public. the state funeral marks the seven day morning. period.ning

it started in the parliament house and ended in the west of the country at the national university of singapore cultural center, where more than 2000 guests attended eulogies, including that of the prime minister. i want to put things in perspective. guest is with the institute of defense and strategic studies -- good to happy with us. the singapore governance model has been counted as a model that can be adopted by many countries. things that he has left behind in singapore with regards to governance -- number one would be the strength of political leadership. political leadership was crucial or even critical to the overall success of governing a country.

the second thing would be that this whole idea of domestic complicity -- it is not a case of interest groups getting what bey want, but there needs to within governance this broader idea. last but not least, for government to be corrupt-free. that is the lesson many of us have learned. structure,government corruption is something that cannot be tolerated. haslinda: a legacy he left behind. i have been getting tweets on it. most technologies contribution to the nation, and say that perhaps this is a man who suffered a solitary rule. any justification? >> you see singapore, you could argue that if he didn't have his any of the people who

argue -- the freedom to argue against authority written government is a freedom that has been brought about because his government system worked, for better or worse. then again, it is a very different mindset. it was really about making ends meet and putting bread on the table, whereas younger folks today they have other aspirations which our forefathers may not have. haslinda: you recently wrote a paper on his leadership, a model for china. is it? it is really not a case of china adopting singapore's model entirely, in terms of demographics, the size of the country, it is very different to

compare china and singapore. but he left behind was certain governing principles, which governments can adopt. at the same time, in an eclectic manner, the preferences of their own respective countries. haslinda: can you take credit for what china is today? it was through his relationship with time shopping -- with tom xiaoping that china open.. >-- opened up. >> one of their top leaders came to the funeral and it suggests that chinese leaders believe he was a man to be respected, and then his ideals and values helped china along the way. that it is a very different china now compared to 30 years ago. they have their own priorities to consolidate, and in that sense, china will chart its own

future and ideas it has gleaned from its own country. haslinda: some people are asking if singapore is ready for a non-chinese prime minister. >> to quote martin luther king, colors not depend on the of your skin, but the context of contentracter -- the of your character. it is a long, drawn process in which leaders are selected from the grassroots, tried and tested. it is not really a case of what color skin you have but whether you have the character, the competency to contribute to the nation. if you go back to the principle of meritocracy, ultimately it is what you do with the life. haslinda: we have to leave it there. benjamin ho.

"we don't want -- in government, as long as they are quality people, so be it." shery ahn: thank you so much. >> that stick a look at headlines around the world. sick teams have identified dna from 78 of the 150 people killed in the crash in the french alps. was suffering from a psychosomatic illness. it would have excuse him from flying the day of the crash. he deliberately crashed the plane after locking the pilot out of the cockpit. police say a second body has been found in a manhattan building.

both victims were reportedly in a ground-floor sushi restaurant at the time. they are bill de blasio says someone may have legally tapped the gas line before the explosion. arrived at the international space station for a year-long mission. dayswill be spending 342 on the iss, twice as long as normal. it is the first attempt at a one-year mission for the russians. they will carry out the same medical experiments to see how his body compares. next, findcoming up out more about the magic number that is making a breaking share

offering in china, when "trending business" returns. ♪

shery ahn: welcome back. you our watching "trending business." there is a magic number that makes our break ipos in china -- anything above this number

virtually guarantees an ipo application will be shut down. david is here with the magic number and what we are talking about. david: is 23. t's 23. if you list your company is anything above a multiple of 23, of the gets through the regulators. over the past 12 months, 140 companies have gone public. have priced their ipos between 22 and 23, which is fairly abnormal, because numbers don't do this and statistics don't lie. so do you price it cheap and give them a lot of upside but shortchange your client, or do you trend toward the high-end? 23 on a normal basis is fairly high, but given that the stock

market is rallying, perhaps regulators -- and of course, it is not an official role -- 23 seems to be the cap. shery ahn: do you have any specific examples of those ipos that were just below that 23? david: a lot. we picked out three names. companies have nothing in common, with the exception that they are chinese. you have a cinema operator, a companyirline, and the which makes chicken wings. top one is what they price that -- just below, but not pushing the limit. upside was tremendous. 300%+. 200

that it was very richly valued, which meant that people who bought it on the second day basically had to deal with a lot of losses. anything above 23. shery ahn: y 23? 23?y david: there is a story on bloomberg -- i don't think these have youeasons why -- seen the movie "beautiful mind?" russell crowe, john nash. he was assessed with the number 23. the knights templar had 23 grand marshals. there are 23 chromosomes in the

dna of a child. it is the lowest prime number that consists of consecutive digits. shery ahn: i love these theories. thank you. 23. coming up next, joining forces. will australia be the next member of the china backed infrastructure bank? we will be live in sydney for the latest when "trending business" returns. ♪ .

shery ahn: done stories trending. china will central bank chief said the growth rate has fallen a bit too much of but policymakers have room to respond. zhou xiaochun told a forum the bank can act on interest rates. chinese airline stocks are flying high today. chinese eastern and air china rose around 10% in hong kong while another had greater heights of 17%.

that is the biggest intraday jump in almost 3.5 years. japan's industrial production fell more than forecast in february adding to pressure her into of consumer spending. january andned from of the weakest data citizen june. the june. data since james. our editor, it was worse than expected. was it because of the lunar new year are other factors involved? james: definitely the lunar new year, a big jump in production in january as companies were exporting more to get ahead of the lunar year holiday and reaction that february as we saw with the declines. there is definitely more than that, just the holiday decline.

that was weakness across every sector in the car sector and every industrial sector. this is not to just about the chinese holiday, it is generally weak demand. domestically and weak demand worldwide has had an effect on these numbers. there is not great numbers. not just industrial production but for other data out of japan last week as well. where is the japanese economy headed? james: that is right. week, consumer spending, retail sales fell for february. industrial data today falling. it looks like while the economy is recovering from the recession last year, it will be a very weak recovery. in the fourth

quarter of last year and the growth in the first quarter of this year looks to be quite a week. the inflation numbers are very bad. atically japan is inflation zero. in february of this year, prices did not rise. falling oilo the prices. overall, not a healthy picture. shery ahn: james, thank you. james mayger in tokyo. let's turn to john with what is moving the markets. john: the airline stocks today. chinese ones across the asian market as well. first of all, china had earnings out today.

chinese and you can see from -- chinares up a .5% eastern and you can see this, shares of 8.5%. korean air seeing gains for the month. now it is change direction. and beating estimates last week. driving upthese 2 the airlines. that is the crucial main best-performing jobs of the day. look at the chart here. pretty much on the up. declines around health care and consumer services. the oil price is falling. all of these companies, industrials, are seeing the best . the most you can see from this is up 6%. and you are 42 stocks rising.

cestruction, construction ment and the other keys right there. look at the map. the map, seeing a green across the markets. best performer is the composite. the worst is australia. really falling. shery ahn: thank you. returnsa prime minister from his north asian tour on promises of investing $80 billion. our reporter joins us from jakarta. what is he going to spend this on? it seems we do not have our reporter there at the moment. let's look at other stories we are following and we will get

back soon. areese railway companies benefiting from the state promotion of their service is free earnings are due later. -- other services. -- earnings are due later. we are expecting record profits. securities regulatory commission reviews plans to merge. one company said its $5.5 billion expansion of the copper and gold mine in mongolia hangs by a thread. the ceo said a few issues remain unresolved. mongolia's government said overving taxes and caused cost is a priority. willfinished, the project of economy./3 facebook is looking to add more friends in china. they are waging an -- a charm

offensive. they have a segment a local partner. ceo mark zuckerberg has are trying to raise facebook profile by meeting with tech executives. facebook, twitter, and other services are banned in china. let's turn back to indonesia where president returns from his tour with promises of investment worth more than $70 billion. let's go back to our reporter joining us now from jakarta. what is he going to spend this money on? president is gaining business commitments from various projects after his visit to china and japan for a total of u.s. dollars. reach $5.9 billion and

most of the investment from toyota and automakers. expand back to indonesia in order to fulfill the plan to increase export by three times to 600,000 units a year. china's biggest automakers are looking to pledge 1.3 billion u.s. dollars in indonesia to expand and to build businesses. suzuki hopes to increase 30% of the current annual shipment to rate of 38,000 units. none automated investments are said to reach 3 billion u.s. dollars including textiles, construction, industrials. one saturday this commitment will be -- one hearses said this commitment will be in line this year. -- one person said this

commitment will be in line of this year. havet investments not only -- health economy but the outlook. -- direct investments not only economy but to the outlook. shery ahn: ali karenina, thank you. australia is finalizing plans to join and infrastructure bank unless it gets a paul allen in sydney. can we say australia is committed? committed, sherry in. -- shery ahn. there are a few issues. one of them is governments and basically ensuring no one country dominates the bank and the board of directors has the final say of any major investment decisions.

however, the treasurer in australia was talking over the the rightd said it's thing for australia to do is join the bank and be part of a multinational bank. and the region right now is the former prime minister who now has a new job as the independent commission on multilateralism here. he is doing his part to do the sales job for the bank. >> from the very beginning when this proposal was put forward, i supported it. asia has a major infrastructure need. 12 a shortage of global capital. and of the real challenges to use public capital weather from or ab -- whether from the ab abib. and it is good for global growth. it is fairly flat at the moment. everybody knows the united states is no fan of the

china led initiative. what is the australia government saying about the u.s. skepticism? it has been a diplomatic balancing act for australia because the united states is an important ally and tremendous friend of australia. and china, the most important and largest trading partner. the decision easier for the australia government when britain decided to join in and the treasurer said he believes the united states will eventually sign up. it will take a bit of time. he makes a point that the u.s. pledgedn back to ab has and many ways, the united states has a simple choice. get on board or get left out. shery ahn: paul allen in sydney. coming up next -- calling for a cap. a chairman defends limits on iron ore. we hear exclusively from andrew

forced on why australia's national -- national interest. ♪

david: the stories making headlines. nuclear talks in iran resume this morning. each side saying the other must make tough choices. the end of the month is the deadline. may go towards the relationship. israel has expressed concern saying its concerns that it confirms all of its worst fears. singapore has been an emotional farewell. a state funeral general world leaders. the crowds gathered in a heavy rain. the coffin was taken by carriage to the funeral service. was the prime

ministers of india, japan, thailand, australia and former u.s. president bill clinton. >> it has been a dark week for singapore. the life that has guided us has been extinguished. we have lost our founding father, mr. lee kuan yew, who lives and breathes singapore. all of his life. david: they u.k. election campaign gets underway. david cameron plans to re-seek. his conservatives trailing the opposition labor party in the latest survey. ed miliband will make his pitch for the business world today in a luncheon. he will say it remains committed to keeping the united kingdom in the european union. will have complete

coverage of the u.k. election and we begin our special programming this afternoon with an extended version of "the pulse." 7:00 p.m. if you're watching in sydney. chairman is defending his call to limit iron ore to boost prices. it has been described as need to and companies act responsibly. he spoke to stephen at the aforementioned china. -- after the forum in china. andrew: really missed the elephant in the room and i would like to start think about it. its interest is not helped by companies dumping iron ore into a falling market. we are here to husband the assets. we do not only the iron ore. we are here to husband

especially for the people of australia. we did not spend tens of billions of dollars in a commodity priced environment that will not be good for australia and we will not be doing it. it would not be good for china. china needs a stable supply, a diversified supply. they do not want concentrated supply. one-on-one economic rule. that way you get a fair game. fortesque is part of that. n: i know you do not wish to direct -- response to the direct comments from your competitor. those unnamed competitors you talked about kind of indicate that they think you are in trouble, fortesque is in trouble. how much trouble is fortesque? thatw: i have been hearing since i started from the same

unnamed companies. the same broken record. they wished we never build the world's best runway platform. they wished we never connected all of that up. and they wished that we do not have customers all over asia who love us, support us. and they wished all of those things many, many times and sometimes they get printed if they are colorful enough. the fortesque gets stronger every time we get criticized. fortesque is in good shape. steven: you built your company on debt and not equity at a time when iron ore prices were soaring through the stratosphere . it is the opposite environment now. andrew: part of that is true. we have several .5 billion in debt on a $20 billion balance sheet. i do not think is a great deal,

it is manageable. prices are strong -- iron ore prices are strong and rising. others have had 30-50 years jump on august. we started out expansion and we finished very early. we watched others playing johnny-come-lately catch up. and a collapsing a lot -- commodity price. and the shareholders interest in national interest of china and is this abecause strategy to force everybody? is it a strategy to get great returns? we struggle with that. we have a significant platform. forcing the price down by our behavior would not be smart for we are happy. you have leadership here in the oil industry. one of the largest oil companies right here.

they were asked, what are you doing?' are you going to continue to expand? they will expand no matter what. he sat back and said, no, i will not continue expanding. we will be disciplined about our production. we will not expand at all. we will definitely not spend money. falling oil has -- as we have seen in iron ore. fortesque will behave responsibly. shery ahn: coming up next -- india has cut interest rates twice in this year but not slowing on borrowers. where it is when we cross over to mumbai, next. ♪

shery ahn: india has cut its interest rates twice in year but the benefits have not then fully pass on. banks have refrained from cutting costs. to mumbai forer what is going on here. reporter: that is right. the policy turned surprise rate cuts into any benefit. like you pointed out, banks have been holding out and consumers with the biggest lenders. they said they want the central-bank to cut on the requirements for the amount of money required. they are arguing the combination would slow the process and banks need low funding costs. credit drop is hedged near a five-year low. banks have really cut deposit

rates. savings plans or stock options or stock market office are off of high returns. a 0.5% in the cash reserve ratio which is been 4% since a february 2015. lending rates because of banks which is below that. it cannot raise it above that. since been all about 10% november 2013. donna as the eye chairman said at cut is easier to transmit -- the sbi chairman said at cut is easier to transmit. let's hear that. by june.d the cuts that would probably be the last time before a possible -- it is possible. -- openedleft over

the avenue and that might happen. that's looking like a possible cut of june. some form or the other. : all of this as we come down to the rbs' next rate cut. back to you. shery ahn: sunanda in mumbai. let's turn to david to what is trending on social media. david: it is about the sports events. hong kong, the seven. and the cricket world cup, australia beating new zealand for the fifth time. i mean, there are lots of things. let me first get to india. , the playerf course of the match. the rewards at the closing ceremony. to put a different angle on what

happened, loudest cheer for the legend who said -- since we're talking about this, a separate tweets. history thate in the man presenting the award gets -- that is the magic of master. and let's get to reaction on australia's win. none other than the prime minister tony abbott and he tweeted a picture when the moment 13 one. the captain after the tournament. -- a picture the moment when the team won. that is what you have so far. shery back to you. shery ahn: a big weekend for sports. that is it for "trending business." stay tuned for asia edge

including the news from the forum and we would hear from the players including jim o'neill, the man who coined the term bridge. "asia edge" is next. ♪

reporter: the middle of the asian trading day. a little bit of smog. you are live in hong kong. this is "asia edge." ♪ angie: the top stories this hour. taking off. chinese airlines soar as jet fuel, chinese stocks rally the most this year. and that is because of this a man, pboc governor and his actions. the slow down in china has come

to far and it is having an impact. slump as fewer people splurge on handbags. why one figure means instant profit for investors in chinese sharemarket. this and more in this edition of "asia edge." john: i am john dawson. the airlines. there they are. chinese eastern, earnings out today. seeing gains. 2.5%. air is up china eastern has risen 9.5%. the best-performing sector in asia today. the reason, angie has the answer. angie: thank you so much. airline stockshe a