well as the growth target. thailand is helping japan and korea, as the leading destination for a vacation. follow me on twitter. this is my handle. don't forget to use #trending business. trading in indonesia adding underway. green across the screens. here is heidi. heidi: empathy good way to kick off the trading week -- a pretty good way to pick up the trading week. we are seeing the sentiment carried through to the asian session. juste start of the week, coming online, putting on half a percent at the open. seeing very strong gains from the energy sector, from financials.we had a lot of central-bank action last week . this week, the bank of japan and the fed, meeting for the latter half of the week here at no

fireworks expected, but having said that, tokyo up by 2%. it is sitting around 113. pretty good gains from exports, as well as the banks. shanghai up i went and six cents and six tenths. just taking you through some of the movers we are seeing this session. we are looking at banks when it comes to the china session. we are seeing a little bit of weakness, pressure coming. reports to the pboc, chinese regulators are encouraging inks to pick up -- banks to pick up debt.

we are seeing gains coming through from energy services. parsons in sydney, of by seven and 3/10 of 1%. of at $31seas, news billion purchase of property assets. that stock is up by 3%. -- kansai electric down, 1.75%. just taking you through the aussie dollar, training at .75 at the moment. this is the highest point we have seen from the dollar from july of last year. rishaad: thank you very much. a heat of pressure on the leadership in china as they try to meet this year's growth target, which is at least 6.5%-7%.

and retailsales were both slowing in the january and february period. how will the government meet that goal it indicators continue to show deceleration? >> and does it really matter if they meet the goal or not? having one growth rate for an -- withountry was such such a diverging economy in various regions is a bit of a joke. but still, the data we are getting is confirming what we seeing, and that is the continual weakness in the chinese economy. there are some signs of stabilization, in particular in the property market. old for the most part, the drivers of growth like industrial production factory output is weaker. numbers were bad for january and february. there is seasonal distortion. we look at them on a year-over-year basis, and it is not looking good to reach the stated goal of no less than 6.5% growth this year. pressovernor had his

conference on saturday. he said despite the flowing growth, no major stimulus is needed. he says as long as there isn't any big economic or financial turmoil, the pboc will keep its prudent monetary policy with a slight easing bias. data we got. industrial output rose just 5.4% year-over-year in those combined months. estimates, and suggests there is still continued sluggishness at home and abroad. deflation has been persisting for 48 consecutive months, four straight years of deflation. retail sales, a very key barometer for consumption, and for the government's trends, planning just 10.2 percent, missing the consensus estimate of 11% growth. this is on top of much lower credit figures we got on friday.

aggregate financing, the broadest measure of new credit, it dropped sharply after a record surge the previous month. we have been covering this for months now, this slowing pace of growth.the danger here is that to meet the objective of this at least 6.5% growth, the pboc will likely have to loosen monetary policy faster and further, no matter what the president is saying.that could intensified the deep creation intensify the yuan -- the depreciation pressures on the one. e yuan. rishaad: thank you very much. that is stephen engle this morning in beijing. let's have a detailed look -- we will have a more detailed look throughout the course of the show. tweet us your thoughts, @wrist rishaadtv.

china opening as well as to buy a luxury hotel and resorts chain. they snapped at the new york waldorf-astoria hotel last year. more on the latest purchase. the seller is black stern, and they are selling for $6.5 billion, which is about $450 million more than they bought the chain for a few months ago in december. they have about 16 properties across the u.s. they are trophy properties, including jw marriott, essex house in manhattan, and some properties in scottsdale, arizona. if this goes through, it would be the biggest purchase of a u.s. real estate purchase by a mainland chinese buyer. let's take a look at how big the deal is. since 2014, they have spent about $5 billion buying real

estate overseas outside of china. billion. is $6.5 it encompasses all of the purchases that were made in the best -- last couple of years. no one has really heard of this before they bought the board of the story last year, for nearly $2 billion. since then it has been buying aner properties including office area in manhattan on fifth avenue. fidelity purchased a and guaranty life for about $1.6 billion in november. it has been a bit of a buying spree. there has been no comment from black stern nor the american unit on the deal. the company says new york has a lot of investment opportunities. it could be they will continue shopping in the u.s. and new york in particular. rishaad: thank you for that. let's look at some of the other

stories we are watching. also looking at the clearly volatile set of economic data out of japan, showing more volatility. here is david. david: certainly one of the harder ones to figure out on the forecast. it is similar when you look to aussie jobs. japan, often the news coming out of the indicators, very much surprising to the upside. that is how it looks month on month, up 15%. core machine orders. the median forecast was just under 2%. the most bullish was for about a 9% increase. you can see that beating estimates. -- can we put the charts? they were median and higher than the highest and, very much concert -- highest and, very

mu. perhaps we will see 40 orders. let's talk about this big deal in the chinese property sector. two companies involved, the news broke this morning. we are talking china overseas saying it will gobble up a residential aspect in a deal worth 31 billion renminbi. china shares, at shares. 13 hong kong the buyer, which is the one on your screen, will basically take ownership of property projects across 25 chinese cities

representing about 24 million square meters. according to the statement, the bulk of those projects are either still under development, still being planned. but the minority already completed. while the deal supports expectations of more reform, especially within the property sector, it may actually be negative, specifically for the buyers in this case. is focused more on third tier cities, which is not in line with the stated strategy of china overseas. let's talk about the upcoming ipo of the chinese bank, a hong kong-based lender. it would be the biggest listing in hong kong this year. the first one to raise over 300 million to hong kong dollars, at the very end -- top end of the market. that is three quarters of a billion u.s. dollars.

five cornerstone investors have been involved. alibaba's finance unit, altogether taking as much of a billion dollars of the offering. the offering starts march 21, seven days from now. the debut is at the end of the month. that would take the total amount of cash raised in hong kong through ipos to about $2.5 billion hong kong. that is again come at the top end of the range. rishaad: on our website, we are looking at the singapore stocks, capturing app they cap.

check it out at bloomberg.com/asia. a so once in a decade wage increase. we will be live in them by looking at the details. the central bank says don't expect any major stimulus, despite slowing growth in china. "trending business," is back in a couple of minutes. ♪

rishaad: we are getting a head start with economic data. the name is markets this week. the chief agent pacific economists -- asia-pacific economist is with us. they mights to what do later in the year, nobody is expecting anything this time

around for the fed. think this time, everybody is waiting to see. it just happens that we have strong currencies. i think even if the fed waits and see, any hint of a changing direction would expect a hike this year. that would be a warning signal for china, because they have so , getting spaces for the dollar. it could be a warning for what the fed might do. rishaad: japan on the other hand, looking very closely at what the european central bank is doing.

going further down into the negative rate, further subzero. guest: i think boj will not have the courage at this point to go further. rishaad: they want to see what's going on in europe first. guest: exactly. they say this is all i can do on the negative. back negative in terms of appreciating the currency. somehow blackmailing the market. rishaad: we have seen that. guest: yes. i don't think boj will act. maybe not even in july. i think more action will be taken on the fiscal side. they will actually find it quite appealing, because we see that in every survey, the everybody would like it to be delayed. rishaad: but it would be insane to be cheating the tax hike next year. guest: yes. we saw last quarter negative progress. --abe has all the of

advantages, politically, more support, reelection, you name it. he has the excuse that the economy is not doing well. and the boj is not effective, so why not? rishaad: but perhaps they would it landedfective if or not. we are still waiting for it. it is not just japan, we are talking about a lot of countries need to make radical changes to their engines of growth. guest: exactly. it is beyond the boj's capabilities. even if they had gone beyond the by usinginstruments large corporate to increase -- but it is not going to change, because productivity is not there. labor productivity has fallen in

japan. basically, they need to do a huge revamp of the labor market if they want to go somewhere. it will not -- fiscal alone will not help. rishaad: female participation is one thing. it is one of the goals. perhaps more integration and use of foreign workers -- immigration and use of foreign workers. but this is hard for japan. guest: it is very hard. they have to break the dual market. it is not just about women in participating, it is about literally changing this life employment. rishaad: salary men, etc. guest: yes. if not, you have all these second-tier labor markets, with very low wages and low productivity. that is not only women, but also degree holders in japan, who are

in part-time jobs because they cannot find anything else better. i think that has to go. that is 70% of the labor force in japan. rishaad: let's just look at china now. the data is soft. , sixve this growth target and a half percent growth -- 6.5% growth at a minimum. guest: it is like a whole army for that. you have the pboc, they should actually rewrite the statute, because it is no longer about inflation or financial stability. everything will go to get that target their. that is very scary. we know what the amount of imbalances that china has built are for the sake of the growth target, including corporate debt, local government debt, you name it. i think by pushing that further, they are just getting themselves in additional problems. but we do know that that is what

they want to do. it is very clear. everything since shows that even the pboc's main target is growth. rishaad: only a pleasure, thank you for coming on. is other stories making headlines around the world. at least 34 people killed in the turkish capital in an explosion. and -- a suspected suicide bomber blew up a car, also wounding about 125 other people. it comes less than a month after another suicide bomber killed dozens of soldiers in a convoy passing through the city. that attack was by kurdish separatists, who said it was a response to the turkish military campaign against ethnic kurds. the chinese president has called on armed forces to step up national defense by being more innovative. they said a sound marxist military theory is fundamental to combat efficiency.he

said the army must be more preemptive and push forward with technological research. he also called for what he describes as unique advantages in key areas. have made u.s. forces the largest ever landing exercise, more than 17,000 soldiers took part in the amphibious turning -- journey. they areea says preparing for an invasion. the commander of the u.s. forces says you must assume pyongyang has the ability to launch a nuclear missile that could strike anywhere in north america. and 1500 journalists, locations around the world, this is bloomberg news. rishaad: up next, thailand has become the number one destination for chinese travelers. we are going to be finding out why. ♪

rishaad: you are watching "trending business." i'm rishaad salamat. thailand has become the top holiday destination for chinese travelers, numbers surging 70% less night -- last year. that's good to haslinda amin. why thailand? well, maybe some credit has to go to the comedy movie, "lost in thailand." it has become the highest grossing chinese film ever, over one billion you want at the office, and that is according to the association of type travel artist -- travel agents. they say that the number of tourists rose because of the movie. not surprising thailand remains popular. according to a report, chinese travelers what history, culture, and of course, shopping. thailand offers all of that, and at affordable prices.

i want to show you this chart. you will see there was a 70% surge in chinese travelers to thailand last year, followed by south korea and japan. what is worth noting is that the profile change of travelers, are very younger, millennials. independent, less price sensitive, and willing to splurge on themselves when on holiday. we have seen a trend continuing through this year. plenty of reason for the land of smiles to celebrate. rishaad: what about singapore? different story. for singapore, it has seen a 20% increase in chinese tourists. what is not great for singapore is the drop in high rollers from china. because of that, terrorism -- tourism has fallen. that because of an overcapacity of luxury shopping. unfortunately for singapore, the

pain will likely persist. the board first -- predicts 0%-2% growth in terms of spending. it will be a challenging year. economy,he weak global and many other factors. don't forget, the rising competition from the neighbor. it has to be tough for singapore. rishaad: thank you. now we look at some of the other stories making headlines. my deep the chinese economy -- why did the chinese economy continued to slow? billing delivering a record 200 aircraft to china, more than rival airbus. billing demand for overseas travel. they said they delivered 158 planes to china last year. up next, we are looking at this failure to deliver.

a look at why japan's prime minister is having a tough time getting women into the corporate boardroom. is backg business," into. two. ♪

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you don't see that every day. introducing wifi pro, wifi that helps grow your business. comcast business. built for business. rishaad: look at the top stories. accuracy -- equities rising, surging last month more than expected. retail and other commodities. most economies do not see any movement. china overseas land has been surging in hong kong, buying citic's residential assets for

billions of dollars. roots in china's first state-owned investment corporation. seven months after china's surprise yuan depreciation, the unexpected resilience has proved to be bad news for the fed, at least 560 julian dollars of -- $560 million of options. closing out the morning session in tokyo, 2% higher. fairly robust gains. money hard at work this morning. four weeks of gains in asia, kicking off another week with very strong start. the nikkei to decide closing out of by over 2%. we were expecting a number of

2%, we had 15% growth in january. elsewhere, we are still seeing acids in today, highs over 10%. oil services in particular, minors doing well today. southeast asia not doing too badly. philippines extending gains. two -- 2.2%.p by >> every sector in the green. take a look at the movers. it is energy and financials. reports thatse

have gone unchanged. regulators in china encouraging lenders to participate in these debt for equities while programs. good for the companies involved, but not so good for the banks. icbc down. whirl worley parsons up by 6%. origin energy up by 3%. somei electric seeing downside, court ordering they cannot break out those nuclear reactors. rishaad: the bank of japan starts its latest policy meeting today. stimulus, something

they're keeping and i on, something to be learned from how that announcement is communicated. what can governor kuroda learn from mario draghi? >> they availed more aggressive stimulus than the market anticipated, but then he made this throwaway remark when he said we were not lower interest rates further. kuroda is watching -- rishaad: look what happened when they went negative. >> he would want to make sure his language this week is precise. signal that want to there is nothing left in the toolbox.

governor kuroda won't want to make that same mistake. rishaad: he won't send out a message -- a clear message without sending out a message. that is called fed speak. >> people don't expect him to go , buter negative this week they certainly want a message from him that even though negative interest rates are unpopular, households, banks, lawmakers, remains the option of cutting the rate deeper at a further point. rishaad: we don't expect much, do we? >> we were watch for next month when they have an updated economic forecast, may a trigger for them to go. japan's economy veers into growth and veers into contraction. again, a better handle on how the negative rate is growing. rishaad: thank you very much

indeed. let's have a look at what's been going on in japan. three years since the japanese prime minister came to office, and ever since trying to encourage more women into the workplace. in theio to women to men boardroom remains one of the lowest in the world. what progress has there been, if any? jodi: the push from the administration is part of the progress we have seen. there are now about 400 topix exchangee that have women on the boards, up from 230 in the last fiscal year, a 2.7 increase. when you look at measures and compare japan to other developed economies with gender representation on boards, where you have women on boards, japan

is number 38 out of 39. only south korea has fewer. this and why are these companies just approving -- proving to be reluctant to promote these women? the reason you have so few women on board is that companies want to do this now. they have gotten the message that it is good for their profits, visibility, and because they're being pushed by the government to do it. they want to put women on the board. the problem is they don't have enough of a pipeline. there are so many women are so few women in executive suites in japan that they don't have that pool. japanese companies, unlike those in the u.s., don't like to put their executives on other companies boards, so they don't have that experience. they have a limited pipeline of people to do that, and a lot of the women on the boards now are

in their 60's. rishaad: with that said, what can be done about this? is there any hope? what are people saying about whether things will change? di: the administration is continuing to do things, pushing that companies have at least one woman member on the board, and a coming up with new rules to take effect in april that will require companies with more than 300 employees to show how many women they have in their corporate management, which will compel companies to do more of this. a lot of the women we spoke to said they think it will be the next generation where they will be getting, more sisterhood in the boardroom. rishaad: thank you very much indeed. joining us from tokyo. let's have a look at other stories. regulators in the philippines

are cooperative with bangladesh over the theft of cash from that country's account with new york fed. they have identified people allegedly involved in the highest, cyber hackers getting away without $100 million, attempts to steal almost $1 billion were foiled at the last moment. the finance minister says he will hold the country's accountable for not telling him about the theft. fund saysnal monetary asia should step up and take a leading role in guiding the global economy. christine lagarde describe the region is the most dynamic in the world. she predicted asia will drive two thirds of global growth of the next four years, and has been urging officials to keep monetary policy loose while using fiscal policy to boost growth. has kong's financial sector hit back at moody's after it cut the city's long-term debt outlook. the ratings agency cap the long-term ratings unchanged, but downgraded the others to unstable.

tsang says moody's has it wrong. >> if they look at the economic conditions we have, it is really time to consider an upgrade for hong kong. developmentperty deal that would see them by more than 90 and dollars and assets. vanke aims to fund the acquisition through a share sale per the company is fighting for control of itself. the chinese government ease property curves. -- curbs. the pboc governor has been in for sizing that china does not need to devalue its currency, but that does not mean the yuan is on the strong side. david: it can get confusing.

part of what we need to understand really is that we now have two measures of the oneinbi, the conventional and then the basket. it depends on which one you look at. you get a better sense of why there is so much that's for the yuan to weaken. the basket is actually weaker. very quickly, this is dollar-yuan, basically at the strongest level so far this year looking at these measures. the blue line is new year 2015-2016, a line in the sand at 650. at the moment, the strongest a lever for the dollar going back december.early why is this important? have a look at the yuan against a basket of currencies, which china says is the better measure. let me flip this and get you that chart.

just looking at my cheat sheet here. there we go. there we go. against theyuan basket of those currencies, 13 turns his, a synthetic basket that bloomberg came up with. the gist of this is that we are back to the lowest level going back to 2014. how did we get here? the devaluation against the dollar, still the dominant currency in this basket, and then of course this is where the yen started to strengthen when the market second-guess the boj when they surprised with bringing rates into the negative, so that's where we are for the moment. let's put these two together, and what you actually have is a very clear diversions that shows you perhaps that a lot of people might get burned. the bets are if you look at yuan -dollar, that it's on the stronger side, which it is. that's the line right there. looking at the basket, you do

have a clear divergence here, which took place over the last few weeks. a reflectionhows of monetary policy in china. the blue line can get flipped over when we get a fed meeting, if it's a prices is weak, so just be careful. this is one of our top stories on the terminal. thank you very much indeed. mapping? where heading over to tokyo to find out how one japanese company is making a big bush to create guides for driverless cars. ♪

>> it is 10:45 a.m. in hong kong. these of the stories making headlines around the world.

german chancellor angela merkel suffers defeat as voters these elections to reject her open border refugee policy. cameailed to recapture and second in the rhineland. they will struggle to form a viable coalition after the anti-immigration policy alternative to germany picks up a quarter of the vote. hundreds of thousands of people have rallied across brazil, protesting against corruption and calling for impeachment of the president. they marched along the beach, capital, and through the center of some follow. -- of san paolo. it is machine three, man 1, finally beating the computer program in the game go.

the world champion called the victory priceless. he says he discovered weaknesses in alphago's game. they play their final match on tuesday. powered by over 2400 journalists and 150 bureaus around the world, this is bloomberg news. china's national people's congress have heard little publicly said about soaring property prices. that is despite the growing concerns of a new bubble. increasing number of would-be homebuyers are now resigned to a life of renting. >> the view from her office window is a constant reminder of either a so-four-missed opportunity or a beckoning big mistake. if iw i am wondering really need to buy a house. >> it is a dilemma should buy

many of her generation, a country where owning is seen as essential, especially for marriage, but increasingly it can be financially crippling. she estimates it would cost 20 years salary just to cover the down payment. >> most people the house is the most important part for them to consider. as for me, i think work is more important. i love my job and the opportunity of my job is mostly in beijing. easten authorities property curves, the goal was to where excess inventory supply outstripped demand. the unintended consequence was it drove up prices in some cities, like beijing, where prices are up 10% over the past year. in shanghai, prices are up 18% for new homes.

>> when you see the strong development in the housing market, people have the intention to jump in. >> the lack of affordability is being felt on the home front and the workspace. many young entrepreneurs are turning to shared working spaces beijing, whyple in not share overhead instead of shelling everything out yourself? are in make you feel you a larger environment where other people are also doing innovative things. >> i enjoy working here and sharing a lot of resources. >> founders are lonely, right? we have nowhere to talk. a privatehave company, you feel sad and the whole company feel sad, but here if you feel sad, the other company can cheer you up. >> which is exactly what she needs now. will she resigned herself to

renting or literally mortgage her future? >> you need to buy or you're raise the high price and someone says, don't buy it. you will pay for it for your whole life. so we don't know. i don't know. rishaad: up next, india's prime minister risking missing his budget deficit target after offering government workers a 23% pay hike. ♪

we're counting down to the start of the trading day in india. the indian government plans to ask parliament for an additional $3.7 billion to cover up rose -- to cover a proposed a rise for workers. what's going on here? we will try to get to her, but don't at the moment. having a look at what's going on. markets today moving to the upside, pre-much green, following hot on the heels of what we saw in new york on friday, following on from that,

and what happened in europe as well. japan ending up something like just over 2% or thereabouts. airline planning to double its fleet come expecting disneyland will lift ticket sales. it is expected to grow 10% this year. they are considering joining a global alliance and hopes to make a decision within months. hope, ag may be losing pickup and air freight. this is what we have at the moment, generally cargo prices going down. the cargo division of cathay month, last year -- last coming out with a earnings showing a 9% fall in the amount of cargo they were transporting. that has been playing out, and china to blame for that slow down to japan's top mapmaker making a big push in the navigation guides for driverless cars.

they count google and toyota are among the clients and is working on 3-d maps based on real-time data gathered from radars and other sensors. >> we use laser measuring equipment and other state-of-the-art technology to collect the mapping data, and our maps are therefore much more detailed and accurate. thesee been investing in technologies for use when autonomous driving is introduced. let's have a look at this company in more detail. zenrin more of what does. nrin is the largest mapmaker in japan, started in one of japan's famous hot springs resorts in the western part of the country. decades, it has accumulated a very complete map

database for japan. it now supplies the map content to carmakers like toyota, as well as to google map service here. as carmakers are trying to introduce autonomous driving vehicles around 2020, these companies are also working on a system to collect data and translate the data into 3-d maps, which are going to be used for autonomous driving vehicles. rishaad: what kind of maps are needed for autonomous driving vehicles? they are not ordinary maps, that is for certain. >> yes. i think the keywords for autonomous driving maps will be real-time and high precision. can't rely on two-weeks-old information for a car that is driverless. rishaad: ok. tell me what some of the advantages and challenges are

for making maps for driverless cars. >> mavs are a local product. -- maps are a local product. that once to introduce autonomous driving vehicles here, they will probably have to rely on zenrin for content. this company, if they rest on what they have accumulated over the decade, it will not be enough to drive their future growth. they will have to adopt new technologies to make maps for autonomous driving vehicles. rishaad: thank you very much indeed for that. getting back to that story concerning the indian government and prime minister modi's plans to compass and workers with a 23% increase, let's find out more and hopefully get to mumbai. it is a massive amount of money we're talking about. >> i can definitely hear you.

the government likely to seek approval for growth of additional expenditures by $4 billion as part of budget expenditures. increase a decade wage for 5.2 million pictures -- pensioners. time whenming at a the government has not been able to raise the kind of revenue it was hoping to raise from defenseman of its stake in different -- it's divestment in different companies. rishaad: thank you very much indeed. that is it for "trending business". ringgit is coming up -- "asia edge" is coming up. ♪

the scene of the international commerce center. it is the middle of the trading day and this is "asia edge." a look at our top stories, asia extending the global rally. bank of more central decisions. a difference of opinion as the pboc governor says china will not devalue the yuan. hitting the glass ceiling, why so few women are promoted to the

board room in japan. deal, a chinese forhase of u.s. real estate $6.5 billion. a different story for individual chinese homebuyers, they face a lifetime of renting. taiwan has something new to smile about. more on this monday edition of "asia edge." keeping and i on asian markets. we are slow out of the gate. on the asian eye markets. we are slow out of the gate. to the feding ahead meeting. no fireworks