>> welcome to daybreak australia. shery: i'm shery ahn in new york. sophie: i'm sophie kamaruddin in hong kong. we are counting down to asia's major market open. paul: here are the top stories we are covering in the next hour. theresa may's new brexit blues. sterling falls as the speaker refuses a new vote. oil hits its highest of the year as opec plus agrees to stick

with curbs. equities started the new week in a generally positive mood. the s&p 500 climbing to a five-month high. shery: a quick check of the markets close in the u.s. trading sessions in the week. we managed to extend the gains with the s&p 500 gaining ground for a second consecutive session. the dow managed to rise a quarter percent despite the fact boeing was hit again. we saw energy leading the gains on the s&p 500. wti now pushing towards the four-month high. this after the opec plus coalition came together again, reaffirming their commitment to output curbs. we did get communications and real estate. some sectors weighing on the index. s&p futures unchanged at the moment. slightly positive. investors do have a lot to keep an eye on this week, as we have

central bank decisions not only in the u.s. and u.k. but across asia, soph. sophie: futures an early mixed in asia ahead of this make or break week where we have the central bank decisions. key earnings from xiaomi and tencent. in australia, results from several coal players, including tpg telecom. an impairment from its decision to halt the rollout of the australian mobile network. we do have some data from australia as well due this tuesday. let's check in on the aussie dollar. we do have the aussie checking back towards the 71 handheld after hitting a year two week high on stronger commodity prices ahead of the rba's march policy meeting minutes. fourth quarter home price data, which analysts anticipate will show the biggest yearly drop in the number since 2004. paul: thank you very much for that. let's get the first word news

with jessica summers. jessica: thanks. police in the dutch city say it is not clear why a gunman opened fire on a tram, killing three people. manrkish 47 your older was arrested and was known to the authorities. the attack came three days after 50 people were killed when a gunman opened fire at two mosques in christchurch. new zealand lawmakers are working on new gun laws. france's strengthening security legislation that would potentially ban protest rallies in high-profile areas. the government decided to as aftershocks were burned and looted in the out of the new. armory ande to their stepped up the use of video footage to identify perpetrators. the bank of japan's long pursuit of 2% inflation has left some policymakers thinking that level

remained out of reach for at least three years. sources inside the bank say pessimism is growing as governor kuroda and his team prepare for next month's quarterly outlook. the report will provide the first estimates for inflation and economic growth beginning april 2021. and, boeing tumbled as the approval process for the 737 max 8 came under investigation. we've been told the transportation department inquiry into boeing began before last week's fatal ethiopian airlines crash. it was triggered by information halloween the lion air disaster in october. safety was max relegated to boeing itself. global news 24 hours a day powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i'm jessica summers. this is bloomberg. shery: u.s. stock starting the

week off with a win and a week heavy with catalysts from central bank meetings to geopolitics. sarah joining me now. what is driving sentiment? sarah: right now, we are seeing a continuation of the momentum we saw last week, because there is still very much concern out there, especially as we head into the fed meeting this week. we will get a decision on wednesday. yes, they are largely not expected to raise rates but how will they possibly put in another dovish surprise. we have global pmi's that will come out on friday. right now, we have to have more confirmation that the economy is moving in the right direction, earnings will be moving in the right direction. right now, we are in these crosshairs and we need more time to see if this rally can continue as it did today. paul: sarah, energy stocks one of the best sectors today. the hand of opec plus weighing

on the market? sarah: we do see the effect of opec. if you look at oil prices, we are seeing crude oil prices reach new highs for the year. clearly, there is a very large correlation between oil prices and energy. but, we saw energy really take off today. the best-performing sector, up about 4.4%. we are seeing a shakeup in the leaderboard for the year. energy was actually the fourth best-performing sector. now it is safely at number three, but it is that and that will industrials. we continue to see industrials come down the leaderboard and energy is slowly but surely moving their way up. shery: financials also getting a bit but yields have been range bound so what is moving? sarah: if you think about the idea that the fed is going to be more comfortable with an inflation overshoot, now many investors feel that the path for yields further out on the yield curve is higher because we

should see these inflationary pressures theoretically come into the market. that would help the yield curve steepen which is good for banks in the long run. so, that would be good for banks. a year and target of 3000. for them cover really key to the call is financials leading the way. shery: sarah ponczek with the latest on the market. prime minister theresa may's hopes of finally driving her battered brexit deal through were dashed when the speaker of the house of commons refused to allow a vote. the bill was not sufficiently different to come back to parliament. kathleen hays has been looking at what this means with brexit just around the corner. i cannot imagine this being the end of the road for theresa may. she has survived so many were deals. kathleen: think where we were 24 hours ago. and philiprviews hammond saying there are some signs of pro-brexiteers coming

around. theresa may writing a sunday article saying we have to go through a long extension if you don't get on board with my deal. that was yesterday, this is today. something theresa may did not expect to see when she got up. the speaker of the house of commons john barco has torpedoed her plans for now. invoking the rules that the same bill cannot be put to a vote. it has to be significantly changed. he says it must be fundamentally different to go up for a third vote. >> what the government cannot legitimately do is to resubmit to the house the same proposition or substantially the same proposition of that of last week which was rejected by 149 votes. mr. bercow always said the ruling is not to

indicate that anything except here is the test. here is what you need to do to put this to a third vote, but it is suggesting something new has to be agreed with the eu. theresa may has pretty much rolled that out. the negotiations are already over with the u.k. time is running out before the march 29 deadline. it is definitely seen as boosting the odds that the u.k. has to reach the eu extension which will have to be the long what. the long run that will put it into the elections for the end of may which is what they don't want to do. furthermore, a spokesman for theresa may said this afternoon that the speaker, mr. bercow, did not forewarn us of the content of his statement or making one. now they don't expect a third vote this week. we shall see what happens next. they also said they also think this is the indication that the

speaker is trying to force them towards a softer brexit. the politics, of course, mixed very heavily into this. paul: kathleen, in the meantime, theresa may is heading back to brussels then with a cap in hand, having to do what she said neither she or parliament wants -- asking for that extension. is the eu going to a great? kathleen: from brexit to brextension now. the leaders are reluctant to even think about working on a new deal.usually the details are agreed by the junior officials. then, there are pitfalls to this brextension. what of the eu starts attaching conditions? people say there is a possibility that you must do a second referendum. individual nations may want to attach writers -- righters. spain and gibraltar. could these be stirred up again? if parliament is going to

project this, does it mean they will inevitably lurch into the default, the hard brexit, which they said they will not do? by default, get there anyway. it does seem more than ever that the question of a second referendum lurks in the background, but at this point, people figure now it will be inevitable that the u.k. will go into this longer extension which could last longer into 2020. sort of like groundhog day, the old movie with bill murray, where every day he gets up with the same story. the people at the heart of this brexit matter, it must feel that way. shery: groundhog day. i love that movie. too.een: paul is laughing paul: deja vu all over again. kathleen hays, thank you very much for that. still to come, we will speak to u.s. agriculture secretary about

the trade talks with china and the campaign to persuade more nations to accept biotechnology. shery: partnership at the heart of the opec plus alliance comes under strain as russia remains doubtful on extending production curves. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: i am paul allen in sydney. shery: i am shery ahn in new york. oil hit its highest level this year as saudi arabia convinced fellow members of opec plucks to reaffirm their commitment to output cuts, saying they will stick to the plan until june. here is the energy minister. >> there is still significant

inventory glut in the market about what we consider to be normal. that we need to draw this down in the next few months before considering easing the production cuts that we have undertook. that objective would not be served in a meeting in april. nasdaqoining us now is director of energy and utilities. thank you for joining us. we just heard from the saudi energy minister, helping to spare a four month high in the oil price, but how long will it last because june is shaping up to be an interesting month? we might see the interest of saudi and russia the verge perhaps. >> that is possible. i think opec but itself sometime today in terms of not having the meeting in april as they were

originally supposed to do. i think opec will look to the u.s. and what does the u.s. administration do vis-a-vis continued sanctions on iran and venezuela. that will inform their policy decision in june. saudi has been very forthright and saying they want to continue the cuts. they see the market is more oversupply the necessary. russia has always been reticent about that. they prefer prices at a slightly lower level and don't need higher prices as saudi. it will be interesting to see if saudi can continue with the strength of their petro diplomacy in putting russia on board to extending cuts to the end of the year. paul: you did mention the u.s., one of the other key variables in this equation. if you had to guess, what do you see the u.s. doing? tamar: the u.s. administration has been clear recently in some of the shift of the messaging, vis-a-vis iran, saying it is not likely it will take iran exports to zero.

i think there will only be about 200,000 to 250,000 barrels a day in terms of incrementally locked barrels from iran. i think the u.s. administration will extend some of the waivers but at lower quotas. i think the u.s. administration understands you cannot go below -- go after both iran and venezuela without compromising prices at the pump. the risk is more on venezuela and if the u.s. decides the post secondary sanctions that would impact other countries that buy oil from venezuela, such as india and china. this inches are only against u.s. buyers -- the sanctions are only against u.s. buyers. shery: we have seen a boom in shale growth. this chart showing u.s. production continuing to rise against opec production falling. the changes in production of opec seemed to have finally tightened up over the past three months to counter the glut coming from the u.s.

there has been a debate about the sustainability of shield growth. what do you think is the prospects for this in the u.s. and prices? tamar: i think production will continue to grow in the u.s., but the pace of growth we saw last year, 2 million barrels a day is unsustainable. i think that was a record for any country around the world. you are right. there really is a big debate in the industry. some of the big oil services companies have talked about operationally now in the u.s. that the u.s. shale industry matures. companies are going into manufacturing mode. they are building wells closer together and that is eroding the productivity. now you have some of the big major companies like exxon and chevron saying we can actually see returns even in a much lower oil price and firemen as we keep the volumes up. it is not going to be as robust as last year but the question is

are the agency forecasts better out there? do they fully reflect the curtailment in capital that all the emp companies are doing? the big companies are spending much more in shale. the smaller companies are cutting back. i don't know what the agency forecasts have worked up to that. shery: we seen more m&a's in the energy sector. tamar: there are over 90 probably traded emp companies. that is too many for an industry of this size. we found really having continuous acreage is really very important for being productive. i think there will be more m&a in terms of equal companies buying other equal companies just to gain scale so they can be competitive. paul: tamar, you mentioned the sustainability of u.s. shale expansion. it is worth noting that not all loyalists are created equal. can they replace saudi import? tamar: a lot of people refer to shale is the best producer in

the world, but shale oil is a light, sweet oil which is great for making gasoline, but that is more in decline around the world. you look at the major demand growth for oil, it is for the medium blends because those are better for producing diesel which is where the demand growth is in terms of the petroleum market. opec canrrels from largely be replaced by shale in terms of quantity, but not necessarily quality because opec is what makes the heavier and more medium grades that the market needs right now. that is what is in short supply. nasdaq director of energy and utilities, thank you for joining us. you can get a roundup of the stories you need to know to get your day going in today's edition of debris. bloomberg subscribers can go to their terminals. it is also available on mobile on the bloomberg anywhere app. you can customize your settings

so you get the news on the industries and assets that you care about. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: this is bloomberg technology global link. i am paul allen in sydney alongside shery ahn in new york. emily chang is in san francisco. let's take a look at the top global tech stories of the day. more than $2 million in the first big tech ipo of 2019. that would value the company at almost 20 million doll ars. sell its shares in the filing comes after the company reported lost almost $1 billion last year in revenue. it will start trading on the nasdaq on march 29. fresh off launching its first batch of satellites, oneweb has pulled in another round of funding as it seeks to build a

worldwide internet system delivered from space. the sort of announced it has raised $1.25 billion, bringing total funding to $3.4 billion. softbank, qualcomm and the government of rwanda are among oneweb's investors. china's most popular netflix like streaming service is angling to build a app by 2020. ieg is controlled by baidu and attempts to cultivate a social media oriented video sharing platform. the founder and ceo told bloomberg about his plan. >> we have made some attempts and have some standalone short video app, but we have not seen one generate huge traffic so we still need more trials and get more users. i hope before the end of 2020, we can get an app with more than 10 million daily active users. emily: those are the top global tech stories we are watching. back to you. e debuts ay, applu

new mid tier i had. -- ipdaad. what do we know about these new devices? emily: this is interesting but we did not know if apple whatever offer another update to the ipad mini. it has been four years since an update. we are also seeing a new mid tier i've had air -- ipad air. ipad still has ipads on the low end which they gear towards the education market. now, they have this ipad mini and ipad air, in between, middle-of-the-road price points. it is a vote of confidence for the line. we know apple was making less and less money on the ipad over the years. these are features and upgrades consumers are asking for. it goes to show there is still a market. shery: quite surprising given

this was a model apple was phasing out. do we know why they are bringing it back? emily: we can assume it was by some sort of popular demand and they believe there is a certain segment of consumers that want this. i can say i have an ipad mini from six years ago and i was happy to hear this news. the thing about the ipad, it last several years. you don't need to upgrade every couple years like you do possibly with your smart phone. your devices are lasting longer and longer which is part of the reason why we're seeing sales declined. it is not because people do not like the products. it is because they are simply lasting longer. in the case of the ipad mini, with a larger screen phones, you can get some of that functionality that you have on an ipad on that bigger screen phone. these ipads do work with the smart keyboards that apple has as well as the stylist.

paul: apple got a big streaming event coming up next week. what can we expect? emily: we will be there, march 25, at the steve jobs theater. we are expecting apple to unveil a new media and entertainment bundle and it strategy to compete with netflix, amazon prime, and original content strategy. they have big names attached like oprah and reese witherspoon. hopefully, we will learn more about what their plans are. shery: we will be watching. thank you so much for that, emily chang in san francisco. that's bloomberg technology global link. do not miss bloomberg technology at 5 a.m. in hong kong and 5:00 p.m. in new york. next, we will be joined by u.s. agriculture secretary sonny perdue to talk u.s.-china trade, biotech and much more. this is bloomberg. ♪ this isn't just any moving day.

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paul: 9:30 a.m. in sydney. tuesday morning. markets opening in 30 minutes time. futures pointing higher, by one third of 1%. i'm paul allen in sydney. shery: i'm shery ahn in new york where it is 6:30 p.m. let's get the first word news with jessica summers. jessica: theresa may's whole brexit strategy has been blown off course as the speaker of the house of commons refuses to allow her to bring the twice defeated departure deal back for a new vote. may threatened to abandon the brexit altogether if tory hardliners do not support her. the speaker rebuked from

bringing an already rejected build back to parliament. >> it should not be regarded as my last word on the subject. it is simply meant to indicate the test which the government must meet in order to meet a rule that a third meaningful book can legitimately -- vote can legitimately be held in this parliamentary session. jessica: at least 79 people have been found dead and 43 missing as rescue efforts continue in a flooding in indonesia. the flash flooding triggered by seven hours of rain on saturday. 5000 people have been displaced with hundreds of houses severely damaged. the pentagon has compiled a 20 page list of military construction projects that could be cut to fund president trump's order wall. willing to cut necessary defense

spending and make the u.s. less secure and lisa realizes wall. critics say that once lawmakers know which estates are projected to go, they will likely not vote. global news 24 hours a day on air and on tictoc on twitter, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts. i'm jessica summers. this is bloomberg. shery: thank you. the u.s.-trade talks role on with both sides indicating progress is being made and the market watching closely for any sign of a deal. agriculture is one of the key areas under discussion. let's talk about this and much more with agriculture secretary sonny perdue. welcome to bloomberg. we keep hearing about all of this progress being made on talks, yet we are not seeing much details. when should we expect a deal to be signed? sec. perdue: hopefully, soon. these talks complicated. some of these negotiations take

years. this has been indebted because it is an --expedited because it is an urgent issue for the president. there have been four high-level discussion since october.it is moving along rather rapidly . you want to make sure you get the details right. shery: which part at this moment the most complicated part? sec. perdue: dealing with biotechnology issues and the enforceability provisions. if you have an agreement, the rest of because the quinces of noncompliance. that is one of the issues that the u.s. is very worried about. if we do a deal with china, as a customer, that can be enforced. shery: ambassador lighthizer has said this is one of the reasons he is not putting tariffs off the table. is this the best strategy? sec. perdue: i think it is one tool for enforcement. hopefully, the chinese will understand that. it is like really complying with the law.

if you comply with the agreement, you don't have anything to worry about. if you don't, there are consequences. shery: one of the least complicated parts of the trade deal seems to be the agriculture purchases that they continue to promise for the u.s. you said earlier today that we are seeing on the table some very attractive numbers regarding agriculture purchases. can you give us more insight? sec. perdue: probably not too much detail, other than the fact it is the easiest thing for china to promise as far as reducing the trade deficit. it is a product they need, they utilize, and would be easy to reduce the trade deficit which president trump has insisted on relationships with trade with china. they are all over the board. the meat sector, the grain and oil seed, ddg's and ethanols. it is a broad array that would be good for agriculture if we can consummate the deal. shery: have been made promises

on all of those purchases away from not just soybean's, which we know they purchase a lot of? sec. perdue: numbers have been discussed. it is not appropriate to talk about this publicly at this time because negotiations are ongoing, but it would be the easiest way for china to reduce the trade deficit with the u.s. shery: do you see china importing more raw agricultural items or more cross items? sec. perdue: we hope they will do both. raw commodities. they have an aggressive and vibrant soybean processing facilities there. we think they would probably import raw soybeans. on corn, ethanol and ddg's, they would be processed here. beef, pork and poultry will be processed here as well. it would be a combination. shery: with these come before a trade deal or part of the package? sec. perdue: i think it is part

of the package. the vice premier made a commitment, a good-faith offer of 10 million more metric tons on top of the previous five and five. it gets us two thirds of the way back from where we were in the 2017 purchases from china. shery: when it comes to dollar value terms, we have seen china purchased $24 billion a year in 2017. the only issue for that, should china be a small part of the purchases and they import more than $120 million a year. could we see the purchases being topping the 2017 levels? sec. perdue: i think we could. if we could come to which rate resolution, we could double or over two tonumber four to five years. you are bringing the opening bell at the new york stock exchange. shery: he will be doing with with farmers, ranchers and producers. all of these tariffs threatened

their livelihood. we just heard from senator john coons from south dakota saying this about the situation for farmers. >> it is a situation where farmers are patient and they understand it is a long game. at the same time, when people start losing their farms over this, the economic impacts become very real. i think that is why there is a sense of urgency attached. shery: what are you hearing from them? sec. perdue: i agree with them. i told president trump that farmers are some of the most patriotic americans i know. they want to be patriotic in the long game of trade negotiations but they cannot pay their bills. hopefully there will be -- i think the ambassador, secretary and president are engaged ongoing in this effort to get this resolution as quickly as possible. 2018 was a financially stressful year.

that is why the president authorized the market facilitation program which helped, but farmers rather have trade than aid. shery: president trump promised $12 billion for farmers. how much of that has already been dispersed? can we see more? sec. perdue: probably not in another market facilitation program. farmers need to do their businesses based on where the markets are today. we probably expended about $10 billion of the $12 billion. we are still making purchases, as well as $200 million in the market access program. shery: when you talk about other markets, what are you looking at right now? we continue to see these trade tensions not only with china, but also negotiations with the eu, with japan that are upcoming. sec. perdue: negotiations with japan are very important. ambassador lighthizer is focused on japan and helping to get a bilateral agreement with japan that would be equal or better

than tpp. it was on the table when president trump came into office. the farmers need that for beef and other grains. we hope that can happen with japan. eu is simply intractable. they have really just refused to negotiate on agricultural issues. taken a very protectionist view of agricultural products going into eu. shery: can you have a trade negotiation with the eu without agriculture? sec. perdue: i don't think we can do that in the u.s. without agriculture. they don't think they can do it with. shery: japan is protected when it comes to their farming communities, agriculture. do you expect japan to give the u.s. more leeway? sec. perdue: i think japan understands that what they export here, with the trade imbalance we have, president trump has made that clear to them that we need to strengthen

that trade imbalance. i think you will see japan make some decisions that can help us do that through agricultural imports. shery: what is happening right now with mexico and canada? at the same time, we still have congress which is the next hurdle. sec. perdue: all three countries have to ratify that. our congress here as well as the neck uthe mexican legislative b, as well as the canadians. i think that will happen. i think our congress will understand if they look through this issue and don't evolve into they partisan politics, will understand the usmca agreement is better chapter by chapter than the original nafta and virtually all aspects. environment, labor issues as well as agriculture. shery: democrats want those changes in labor standards. can we get a deal this year? sec. perdue: i think we can.

i think when they look at it honestly for the agreement, they will understand we need an agreement sooner rather than later in that area. i hope we can also result the 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum. shery: exactly, because we keep forgetting those tariffs are still in place. will this help once they get lifted? do you expect them to get lifted? auto could be coming as well. sec. perdue: i hope so. i think the president obviously feels like the tariffs have been an effective tool in order to get a better agreement. i think we have gone a better agreement. i don't think that leverages needed as much. that is the expectation for mexico, canada and members of congress. the ag community needs that because they are still facing the retaliatory tariffs themselves. shery: prospects for other markets especially in asia because i know the u.s. has been

trying hard to get more concessions from southeast asia, more relationships? sec. perdue: we have been all over the country. the undersecretary has been all over indochina -- from india to the philippines to thailand to malaysia. all of those countries have hungry mouths and we are trying to broaden our customer base. i'm concerned we allowed ourselves to get too dependent on the consumption in china to the exclusion of other countries. we're working very hard to sell the production. shery: thank you so much for joining us today. thank you for coming in. secretary of.s. agriculture sonny purdue. tech, the smart money has been on another stock moving. we will tell you all about it next. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: welcome back. getting more on what we should be watching when trading gets underway in asia, we are joined by andrea. asian stocks close to the highest since october as equities are rallying. can we expect this to continue? andrea: it is all about the fed this week. asian stocks are heading for their best quarter in seven years, so i think it is taking a little bit of a breather before we get that fed decision. it has all been part of this global rally that we have seen in the first quarter after the fed turned more dovish. there has certainly been a level of euphoria. has boosted its level for the s&p 500. we have seen influx into the three biggest etf's that tracks the benchmark. the fed is expected to hold

rates on hold,, and maintain this dovish stance. i think investors are still waiting to hear what they are going to say at that key press conference. they will schedule an end to the balance sheet normalization, we could get another leg up in stocks. it feels very bullish. it feels a bit euphoric. there is a bit of a breather as asian futures are showing. it is probably a bit of a more of a leg up for this rally. shery: how about a leg up for australian bonds as well? we do get job data this week that will spur further gains. what is going on? andrea: that is right. most of the activity has been concentrated in the short end of the australian yield curve, particularly in the three-year bond. their yields have dropped 50

basis points since december and they are now with gin -- within just a whisker of the rba's policy rate of 1.5%. that has largely been because of a slowdown. the slump in the housing market. and worsening consumer sentiment. markets are also now pricing in year.rate cut later this one thing that we need to watch out for is this jobs numbers that will come out later this week. the jobs market here has been one of the bright spots, but if that shows any signs of worsening, then expect those rate cut expectations to ratchet up. paul: all right, thank you very much. if you want a closer look at some of those charts, you can find them in our library. you can see those charts we haven't talking about on the

bloomberg terminal. fang. u.s., now a group of companies in australia with an acronym of its own. it is outperforming chinese and u.s. peers. here to tell us more is jackie edwards. tell us more about these stocks and that start out with the acronym. waaax is made up of five stocks that have done really well since mid-2017. one reason for this is because investors are looking at this global rally that has benefited tech stocks in the u.s. and they are looking to replicate those gains in australia. the other part of it is that the waaax names have attractive growth outlooks. they have benefited from australia's planned expansion into 5g and cloud-based

technology. shery: is this just another acronym or the fact that it actually exists based on the tech industry in australia? jackie: well, in reporting this story, the people who i talked to said no, this is not just another cute name for yet another grouping of stocks. this is a sign that australian tech industry is coming of age. the tech stocks in australia, they make up just 3% of the benchmark here in a market that is dominated by banks and miners. the fact that the waaax name does exist is assigned the companies are becoming more competitive. paul: jackie edwards, thanks very much. more to come on daybreak australia. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: attempts by the world's

biggest gold miners to become even bigger could have a domino effect of boosting investor interest and forcing midtier companies to team up. one australian miner that might be benefiting's share price has jumped more than 58% so far this year. the managing director joins us now. he is in hong kong. and in a seems to be the theme of the day. you are sitting on an impressive pile. $100 million of cash and bullion. are you looking to get involved in m&a? >> we are always looking at opportunities. we are realistic at the moment that affect the australian gold prices are at a record high, but we are always looking. we have been inquisitive in the past but we are not in any rush. paul: you are looking. can you name us any names? any particular companies you are looking at or can you give us

some countries you are looking at? mark: obviously, i cannot go into too much detail on names. we are betting down some reason acquisitions at the moment. like i said, we are not in any rush, but we do like australia. australia and new zealand. we have some expiration in -- exploration in america. shery: what about the size of your targets? will they be major or smaller scale projects? mark: we always look at both. it is the smaller scale stuff you revert to, but i think we are getting to a size and a hitting ability to go a little larger, but we are probably still talking midtier. we're looking to benefit from some trickle-down effect, from things falling out of maybe not the majors but the next tier down. we are probably talking $300 million project. we think we can have a swing at the right one.

shery: what is going on with your stock, rallying more than 50% this year? do you find any reasoning behind this rally? mark: we have long believed we have been undervalued so it is exciting to see that. i could give you two good reasons. deal certainty around acquisition and the takeover in the new year, as opposed to the uncertainty with the yields late last year. plus, just recently on monday, we entered the i sx 300. some strong buying in the last three days leading up to that interest. paul: mark, you mentioned some interest in your own backyard, australia, new zealand and perhaps the u.s., but you have a partnership with mining. tell us more about that. mark: the partnership was put in place essentially to look at projects that are a little bit big for us alone. and to give us a wider scope and

what we could look at. understanding that at the time, 12 months ago, we struck a deal to look at the projects we had a limited scope with what we could do alone. i think we are getting to the point now where we can go it alone on a margin -- on much larger deals. we have a good relationship to look at projects, primarily on a generated basis, but we are not being restricted on that by anyway. paul: one of the things helping aussie gold miners is the weakening aussie dollar. what sort of level do you like to see the currency at? mark: i'm realistic about the gold price and the aussie dollar, $.70. excellent price no matter which way you slice it. don'tdget last year -- we take it for granted. oflook to expand our margins

the higher gold prices and mining more marginal material, but we are always try to protect our margin. shery: we have seen gold prices being weighed down by the rising dollar and trade tensions easing a lot of it. this chart showing the huge outflows out of the biggest bullion backed etf's. also seeing the price of bully on d-- bullion down. what are your price forecast? mark: we are looking at 800 aussie dollar gold price going forward. that is what we use in our budget. we don't see the gold price do anything significantly outside of that. we're pretty neutral. it is generating good cash not only for ramelius but a swath of aussie producers. zeptner joining us from hong kong. plenty more to come on daybreak asia.

we will be joined for an excuse of interview -- an x was of interview -- exclusive interview live from the asia conference. that is almost it for daybreak australia this morning. let's get you a check of how markets are trading at the moment. not much movement when it comes to kiwi stocks, standing firm around 9520. we had seen some positive sentiment spreading as we saw u.s. stocks gaining ground. the sydney futures up 3/10 of 1%. we had the australian dollar now $.70 after itound rally on the back of rising asian equities in the last session. we are seeing the aussie fall 1/10 of 1%. a lot of investors have to keep in mind this week, several central bank decisions in thailand, indonesia, not to

mention the fed and boe. paul: we will have the minutes from the reserve bank of australia out in a little while, and the open in australia at the top of the hour. all of the action next. this is bloomberg. ♪

paul: good morning. i am paul allen in sydney. shery: i am shery ahn. i am sophie kamaruddin in hong kong. welcome to "daybreak asia." paul: all caps or this tuesday, theresa may gets -- our top stories this tuesday, theresa may and brexit. opec plus agrees to stick with curbs.