criticized by its biggest customer right at the start of the airbag crisis. was criticized by its theest customer right at start of the health care crisis. an energy strau -- and energy stocks plunder. let us know what you think of today's top stories by following me on twitter. to heidi now, looking at the markets. a lot of christmas colors, of course. heidi: i am trying my best. we are getting the beginnings of perhaps a little bit of a santa claus rally. shanghai is extending trading. down by about a quarter of 1%. stock in hong kong continuing to

rally by another 6/10 of 1%. -- vixer, vix 200 and 200 up by one. we are also seeing some gains coming out of southeast asia. and number of markets in this part of the world are not trading or trading just half days on christmas eve. had the public holiday for the emperor yesterday, so back online today. we are really seeing these games coming on the back of that rally over the u.s. overnight. so that is really driving sentiment, in addition to the stabilization we are continuing to see. crude prices are improving as well. let's take a look at the biggest movers, one of them is golden properties. this is one of the two stocks that of most -- that have moved so much this year, golden

properties and golden financial. golden properties surging as much as 65% in the early session . this comes after the prop -- after the company disposed of property assets. of the buyer is a chinese mainland firm, the other -- that stock is absolutely flying on december 8 when that deal was announced, it was up 30% in early december, so it is absolutely soaring. we are also looking at that aial names in japan rallying. we are seeing a number of the steelmakers doing well after being sold off quite a bit over the past few sessions. we are also watching oil. are seeing another 8/10 of 1%

rise in that crude price, 37.18 dollars is where we are trading right now. at 120.84.trading yvonne? yvonne: thank you, heidi. takata falling for the eighth straight day with another death being linked to its faulty products. that follows news that takata was criticized i its major customer well before it hit the hired lines. -- hit the headlines. more trouble? >> more trouble indeed. we have this revelation that back in 2009, honda, a major customer and stakeholder of takata, raised these concerns at a meeting in los angeles. senior executives around that .able

fromve also learned now u.s. safety regulators that a potential ninth death appears linked to those faulty airbags. airbag inflators contain a tomical that causes them explode at low-speed accidents, accident that could have resulted in people surviving, instead they exploded, and the driver as well as the passengers suffer serious injuries. we have seen hundreds of these cases, one death in malaysia as well. eight deaths in the united states. if we look at these minutes, they show that a honda executive raised repeatedly their concerns not tech, -- takata was showing enough concern over the situation. those concerns were raised in 2009. halloween that, we saw the

regulatory inquiry by the united states government again. it shows that both companies knew the extent of the problem, the question is, what did they do to fix it? honda says it was concerned declined to, takata comment on these new revelations, but it is leading to the stock declining today. also, it has led to the expansion of this recall. hundreds of thousands of more hondas, mazdas, and subaru autos being recalled by the u.s. government for over -- by the u.s. government over concerns that these airbag inflator's could result in further accident injury, or even death. shares are really hurting today, down 5% in tokyo. you can get more on that story on our website, bloomberg.com /asia. let's take a look at some of the other stories we are watching today. juliette has the roundup. juliette: japan's cabinet severed proved -- cabinet has

approved a ¥1.96 trillion budget, just under $8 million. they say an increase in tax revenue -- eight alien dollars. -- $8 billion. minutes from japan's meeting shows that most members believe the inflation trend is experiencing -- is improving slowly. released today showed many members are willing to adjust the current policy without hesitation if needed. chief cabinet secretary has told bloomberg the boj still has room to continue aiding, if warranted. a mistake atas all. the bank of japan's unorthodox policies are working. the last meeting, policy makers indicated that they are ready to deal with any post-fed

let's talk situations. i think they still have policies they can pursue. areette: group shares rising in sydney today, along with broader markets. they are up i 1% after a consolidation. on the house holdings were bought. that was just over $45 million and represents a 27% premium on the house over last trading price. macquarie, which is boosted mortgages, holds just under 2% in australia and home loans. comes as sydney home prices fell 1.4%, the biggest drop in five years. china southern has announced a plan to purchase 10 aircrafts. this deals with almost $2.3

billion, with the plane's slated for delivery between 2017 and 2019. the new planes are said to help increase capacity by 4%, reflecting the glowing -- growing demand for travel in the world's most populous company. is value on the new planes valued at $10 billion. asian air travel growth is lifting demands for boeing and airbus, with china forecast to surpass the u.s. as the world's largest aircraft market. the company's economic expansion is making air travel more affordable to more people, prompting the airlines to buy mobile planes. , i think it will be a big airport contingent in hong kong today. right, thanks so much. speaking of surprises, no surprises, really, energy has taken a beating this year, but there were a couple of bright spots out there. we have a look at asia's biggest

winners and losers in 2015. reporter: if you want to look at bright spots, let's look at health care and consumer staples. that is as the overall asia pacific is down about 4.5 percent this year. at the bottom of the list, look at energy stocks falling. oil prices really pushing that lower. also, commodities, materials not faring so well. china's slowdown is sort of playing into that. also, the huge supply of oil on the market recently. let's take a look at the companies on the index, the best .erformers so far this year a korean company has signed big germanhis year with pharmaceutical companies.

at one point, it was up 91.7%. it has come down a little bit, but it is performing strongly. also, other companies are taking seven out of the 10 best performing slots. worst performers, let's look to a company like noble. trying to recover from criticism ,bout its accounting policies and also companies like in gm cina and when the cow -- mgm hina and wynn macau. gamblers are just not heading to those casinos anymore, but there is a prediction that they will have sales growth in 2016 and 2017, so in the next two years the gaming companies may see a pickup. back to you, you yvonne. yvonne: thank you so much.

coming up in the show, mr. modi assigned india's biggest arms deal with russia in more than a decade. we will be live in mumbai for the details. but before this break, it was a year of recall and the global auto industry, how is next year looking accor we will get projections one trending business returns. -- looking? we will get projections one trending business returns. ♪

yvonne: volkswagen's scandal was easily the biggest auto story of 2015, but there were plenty of other airlock -- other headlines as well, like the tech on having investigate -- like the tech, bang -- the takata investigation. aining us this year, we have

2016 outlook by the vice president of asia-pacific automotive. it's really great to have you on to show as the countdown 2016. i think scandals and recalls is the best way to describe 2015. all you be looking out for 2016? hopefully some recovery. think 2016 will be a year of victory. we expect that whatever issues have come to the foreground, we will see some improvement. growth by 2.3%. takata toto, bang -- get resolved. all in all, 2016, we are quite optimistic and we see growth in the markets. yvonne: you are pretty too, what about vw

makes you optimistic that they will regain the number one spot? books like and, there are some issues they have to face in their domestic market -- and volkswagen, there are some issues they have to face in their domestic market. the domestic markets tend to be more forgiving. they tend to get a hold of the problem sooner than later. their home market, markets like china, the problem is not so acute, because the emissions levels are far worse than what was stated by propergen, so by putting procedures in place, they should be able to come up. yvonne: i want to watch the trends you are talking about next year, particularly in electric videos. -- electric vehicles. it seems like drivers are still not keen about switching to these because of this anxiety we

have seen in china. when things finally kick off there? ev's: we have to look at not just as electric vehicles. we will see a wide range of in the form ofes two wheelers and four wheelers or in between. all, we see that electric vehicles will be here to stay. of course, they would not challenge the vehicles running on fossil fuels, but they would definitely address some of the issues, they would definitely be here and contribute to important segments. yvonne: do you expect the costs of making these electric

vehicles will eventually level to be on par with traditional engines next year, or will it take some time? take somehink it will time. the electric vehicles still need a lot of government support. inherently, the battery is one of the highest -- it has still not come down to the level of a usual car battery. that willhis segment be first utilized by public transport, and then we will see the consumer application. you mentioned toyota earlier, which automakers do you expect to do well next year? do you think the japanese will outperform the western? i think automakers are definitely going to be one of the star performers.

they are making new technologies like fuel cells. launched them and are running really well in japan. the outlook of these companies is quite right. again, these are championed by the japanese automakers. as long as the u.s. economy performs well, as long as the yen rates are low, japanese auto companies are expected to do extremely well, therefore in 2016, as a group we expect the japanese companies to do pretty well. yvonne: really great stuff, thanks. talking to us about the auto sector for 2016. stories making headlines around the world, beijing's hazardous smog has

eased as a cold front moves in. the u.s. embassy says breathing .as unhealthy at 9:00 authorities closed factories and ordered cars off the streets to tackle the problem, however, state media suspended 100,000 daughters -- 100,000 drivers and now face combined fines. 6.5 bodies have been recovered from the ferry that sink in indonesia. the navy has joined a search operation. went down after being hit by high waves. the number of confirmed victims has risen to 23. four people have survived. most were picked up on sunday. a two-day visit to moscow. the prime minister has already approved india's they just weapons deal with russia since 2001, including the purchase of air defense missiles worth up to

$4.5 billion. modi's relationship with moscow stretches back to the soviet era. yvonne: coming up, mark zuckerberg's plan to offer free internet in india has been given a thumbs down. we will have a status update coming up. ♪

at whattime for a look is trending on social media. facebook wants to offer free internet for india. this could be hitting buffers. juliette is looking at this. juliette: indeed. this is a part of mark zuckerberg's plan. a plan to bring the internet to developing countries and more people around the world. the problem is, critics say this is anti-net neutrality, because

what facebook is essentially doing is offering a free, textbased service to its website and a number of other social networks. people say it discourages others from using competing services and really violates that principle of net neutrality. for example, you can use microsoft being, but you -- bing, but you can't use google. it has been suspended for now under the essence of competition, but it is creating an uproar. mark zuckerberg has not updated his facebook page since india suspended the program, but if we look at a post he had a while that research shows that every 10 people who get access to it the internet, about one person gets lifted out of property -- out of poverty, so he is trying to push that. where youlso a filter can change your profile picture to the india flag, showing

support. one tech writer is saying that this kind of aggressive action makes me want to scream. as i said, there are critics. this is a tweet from an indian is a trap.ord "free" don't sign the petition because it still violates net neutrality. other people are saying if you change your profile picture to this indian flag, you are essentially giving a yes to mark zuckerberg, that you are in favor. yvonne: a lot of criticism has been going on with this discussion in india. extra checking in with us on that. just a look ahead to the new year, our colleagues at bloomberg intelligence have given us their views on key issues facing india in 2016. take a listen. ♪ 2015 has been full of scandals and recalls. the most recent is the volkswagen diesel scandal.

emissions standards have been tightened up until 2020, and the automakers are scrambling to meet those emission standards. ev and hybriddal, vehicles will be growing very rapidly over the next few years, something to keep an eye out. prices remain low for longer, then 2016 will be a year of austerity. cheap oil will force the industry to reduce cost, delay expirations. [indiscernible] companies with a lowest cost at that level will cope with that.

we are actually seeing three challenges going forth. the first challenge is more economic growth -- [indiscernible] . all-timeels are at an low, very low compared to less itn a year, which means that could be within the margin of the companies. the third challenge evolving over the next few years is actually for electric power and gas markets. in japan, and china. that was the team at bloomberg intelligence. they put together a series of reports on key themes and opportunities around the globe. you can find all those on our website. coming up next, japan's approves trillion,udget, ¥96.7

equipping to about $800 billion. we will have more about this, including the most ever on this budget for the military. what are the implications? we will be live in tokyo after this short break. ♪

♪ yvonne: the top stories trending this hour. rising oil prices boosting the energy sector. stocks --ole material raw material stocks led trading. hong kong and singapore closed early today. u.s. investigators have link of toalenti to the powder -- takata airbags.

the national highway traffic and safety ministration began its formal legation -- investigation. the billion budget for fiscal year starting next a broker that includes a record $50 billion for defense. taxfinance ministry says revenue has reduced the need for the issuing of new bonds. earlier, the bank of japan said that while the inflation is proving steadily, it remains ready to adjust policy if required. look at what is -- a look at what is moving the markets now. we have the chinese grange, if you will. grinch, if you will. >> elsewhere around the region,

where seeing the santa claus rally. volumes are very thin. markets are close, some trading half days. most people away for the the nikkeireak to 225 coming off its highs now. of 6/10 of 1%.s the strongest rally is down under, australian shares surging for the seventh straight session, a by 1%. and thateing driven by commodities story. little bit more optimism about where china's economy is heading. quality --morsel support of policy measures coming through from beijing. let's take a quick look at the movers.

we do have some dramatic moves in hong kong. stock was up as much as much as 65% earlier than the morning. we saw this move after the stock resume trading today. billion worth of a property it owned. it will use that money to reinvest across hong kong properties. if there is any property available in the central district in hong kong, he will did on that. investors liking the sound of that. china grand auto up for the second day. purchasing a majority stake in a bmw distributor and china to get access to that luxury network. gendale, another property developing -- keep in mind the

stock hit record highs earlier this week. we're seeing profit taken on accounts of that. losses of about 9% today. a very quick look at the currency front. .ot much of a move with the yen we are seeing some yuan weakness, extending that by a 10th of 1%. bank of koreathe announced an administrative move , cutting down the number of policy meetings for 2017. we are calling this a santa claus rally. it is the festive thing to do. a very quiet trading day so far in asia. you so much. let's talk about japan's, proving a record budget, including the most money ever for the military. the overall spending plan of $800 billion seized $42 billion

for defense, coming as japan strengthens its alliance with the u.s. the prime minister has forced through legislation to allow the japanese defense forced to operate overseas in cooperation with allies or in disaster relief. spokesmannt senior told bloomberg that the bank of japan has plenty of options in the fight for inflation. andy sharp joins us now live from tokyo. great to see you. tell us what the chief cabinet secretary had to say. andy: good morning. just to give you an idea of who he is. he is a top aide, the man who sends the message out twice a day at the press conferences. that he gaves

today in the interview, that the government wouldn't mind it if you boj expands its easing program. that banks such as j.p. morgan, saying the yen will strengthen towards 100. governments may start to wrap up its pressure on the boj to do more. yvonne: is saying the weakness in the yen is bottoming out. government and boj want companies to spend more, but what can policymakers do to encourage that? they are still not doing that. they've been playing this calling on the business lobbies to boost their wages. of gainssing that big good may be day -- we are not

seeing that big of gains. maybe they have to go a step earlier, establishing a new program of $2.5 billion of exchange traded funds. companies that spend more on capital expenditure and wages, but still corporate executives have not thrown off the inflationary mindset. with the administration three .ears in now the sustained said that stability over time may convince companies that it is a safe environment for companies to spend their huge cash reserves. andy sharp joining us from tokyo. thank you very much. some other stories. asia made a $320 million bid for a precision components maker in singapore. it offered to buy the shares at

a 50% premium and says it won't make management changes. inteente is back sharesrplex icon is battling bridgestone for pep boys. says it has significant concerns about car icons revised offer and is evaluating its options. thursday 5 p.m. eastern to respond the new proposal. fourth-quarter earnings will be ,ut by nearly a billion dollars setting aside more capital for its corporate and consumer banking unit. the charge will be positive for regulatory capital, and reiterated plans to pay 45% of

profits and dividends. the bank operates as france, belgium and italy and is facing pressure on margins. china will extend the trading time for its currency starting next year. our asian economic correspondent joins us for a closer look. ?ow significant is this might be more foreign banks participating in the onshore currency market. we might seeterm more integration from the onshore and offshore yuan market. if we step back, it's another step on the road to the yuan cementing its place on the global stage. we all know that china wants its currency used more and more. have that symbolic victory by winning the reserve status at the imf.

we will see more steps like this matures and evolves into a global currency. yvonne: why does china need a government bond market? the currency is only a derivative of the underlying asset. it needs to have the underlying reserve asset to be a reserve currency. that market is quite close to foreign investors now. a big global institution of buyers can't get in there the way they can in other markets .o china needs to develop yvonne: they are far away from where the treasury market is also. way to go.ong they have a list of technical changes, not least opening up capital accounts fully, allowing money to flow freely in and out. investors need to have confidence they can place their

money in china. there are a whole range of other measures as well. china is trying to win the confidence of foreign investors. in the stockion market reminded people how the state plays a big role in china. it is quite a journey ahead before we see a market akin to treasuries. yvonne: one step closer, i guess. thank you for joining us. up next, post-hike predictions, what lies ahead for the dollar. that's after this very short break. stay with us. ♪

yvonne: more signs of a slow down in singapore. consumer prices fell for the 13th consecutive month.

let's cross live to our southeast asia correspondent. the insight at the moment. that drop in cpi has to do with the slump in oil prices. cpi means no recovery in soon. declines, hard to believe that in november, down 0.8%. inflation in singapore, minus transport and accommodation, .2%. they expect court inflation to pick up gradually next year. -- offects of global lower oil will ease. difficult times ahead for singapore. global demand is waning.

singapore's economy so dependent on china. with china slowing, exports will be affected. singapore's central bank knows it too well. it eased monetary policy twice this year, the last in october. the quarter has been cut. bad enough, the market has been slammed. lower by 15% year to date. tough times for singapore. yvonne: nice to see you are still smiling. is expected to pick up next year. can singapore get on board? >> you know what, the impact would be limited. growth nextnt said year between 1% and 3%. singapore may not benefit from the world recovery all that much.

with china slowing, it will be tough. joining us live from singapore. thank you so much. currencies now, and more on asia. great to see you. we were just talking about oil. this story really hurting most of the currencies this year. , you think,s still a strong rally here, at least until next year? >> yes. we really think the risk-reward for the first quarter does favor of the dollar index, heavily weighted to euros. that the fed is planning to hike rates over the course of 2016.

we think that is well underpriced. we think the economic momentum and the first quarter for the u.s. economy will be decent. it will perhaps be helped by a milder than expected winter. i think that will be a positive for the u.s. to have those stronger growth number supporting a fed hike in march. we expect three more over the course of the year. march and by on the dips in the dollar index. yvonne: focus on march. investors are still pretty skeptical that we will see for interest-rate hikes in 2016. could you see an excessive dollars strength hold back on the fed to raise interest rates? what is your view on that? , but clearly they

are mindful of the impact of the stronger dollar, watching oil, too. those are the two obvious headwinds for inflation. they know they are well short of inflation. they hiked rates in the expectation that these are temporary impacts on inflation. closelyl be watching from january, starting to get don'tgs on cpi, which have the steepest fall in oil prices. it's not as though they will get a big downturn in inflation. the stronger dollar, i think they are ready for net experts -- exports to be a drag on growth. they are quite confident about the consumer side of domestic spending. i think that will keep them leaning towards tightening. yvonne: everybody will be watching what happens with the yuan next year. they said they are going to double the on shore trading

hours next year. you think we will see more demand coming out of there? >> you would hope so. it is a step towards a globalized currency. are 24 other members hours a day currencies, you can trade them all over the world. the yuan has a ways to go in terms of that. it will be gradual for the most part. we had the big shock in august. we are still not entirely sure what to make of it. focusst now a rhetorical on the yuan, which does set us up for weakness against the u.s. dollar, but probably nothing dramatic and trade. the volume should still pick up as the year continues. certainly having the market open through london trade will be very helpful. yvonne: i want to ask you about

the australian dollar. we've seen this mysterious force aboveind of has pushed it 70 u.s. since despite the oil collapse. what is going on here. you said it's time for these lower-cost option structures -- what's going on there? it has been quite resilient, particularly november into december. we had ongoing falls in key commodity prices, iron ore, copper week. ins is a clear deterioration terms of trade, yet the austrian dollar has been resilient. we don't think it will last indefinitely. we think short-term into q1 and hold. 71 and 73 for the most part before it breaks lower. i think the austrian dollar

stabilizes in the new year. yvonne: thank you so much. appreciate your input. happy new year. thank you so much. the stories making headlines around the world. the leader of thailand's military government says the return democracy will not happen before 2017. the nationwide address, prime minister says democracy does not mean unlimited freedom. he sees power and a military coup 18 months ago and has pushed that eight for potential elections. ae former army chief said vote cannot happen before a new constitution is enacted and the nation is at these. election officials have blocked an opinion poll for next year's residential rates. po was adopted as a baby and lived in the u.s.. she's failed to prove she is a natural born philippine citizen.

decision inling the the high court ahead of the may election. russia has issued an international arrest warrant over the 1998 murder of a mayor in siberia. investigators say the former kos oil or to the killing. --was once russia's rish man richest man. he was pardoned two years ago after being jailed for tax evasion and money laundering. he now lives in london. rising -- ateadily crash landing in store for china's role makers? we are back in two minutes. ♪

yvonne: you are watching

"trending business". welcome back. are top of energy the agenda as india's prime minister starts a two day visit to moscow. great to see you. these are time-tested partners. their relationship goes back to the soviet union era. why is modi making this trip today? >> it underscores how important of a partner rusher remains to india, especially in the defense sector. india has tried to diversify a way to new suppliers, but russia supplies the most weapons to india since the 1950's. even more important is they have a long history of coproduction and technology sharing. that is important to modi. a central plank

of his diplomacy, especially defense, ready to spend $150 billion to upgrade his military over the next decade. he wants to make sure that manufacturing is done here in india. yvonne: talk us through modi's agenda for the next few days. what should we expect? isat the top of the agenda defense deals. one thing we are watching for is that india has approved the acquisition of missile defense air systems from russia, five of those. that could potentially be a $4.5 billion deal. if they've managed to close the commercial terms, that would be the biggest defense field since 2001 between the two nations. talk about 200 military helicopters, a second nuclear power submarine. aside from defense, they will

talk about nuclear energy cooperation. russia has been building nuclear power reactors in india. they will be talking about terrorism. that is a concern for both countries. yvonne: we have to talk about how this is benefiting russia as well. as the economy is emerging into a second recession. what is president putin hoping for? comes at a time when russia has been facing tension with western nations. what is significant is that those tensions are not impacting this relationship. putin and modi have a friendly rapport. yoga has promised to try for modi. they have a long history of trust and cooperation that dates back to the soviet era, especially when russia is potentially about to go into a second year of recession. it needs a heart in her and buyer like india more than ever. yvonne: thank you so much.

that's it for us at "trending business". stay tuned for "asia edge." ♪

>> from new york city, this is charlie rose. charlie rose: he's previously served as chief white house correspondent for nbc news. a spiritual journey to understand his own beliefs. it is called house your faith. how's your faith? david gregory: it was something that has been rising up inside