haidi:haidi: good morning. i'm haidi stroud-watts in sydney. we are counting down to asia's major market opens. shery: i'm shery ahn in new york. welcome to "bloomberg daybreak: asia." with the ongoing reddit gamestop upheaval, see -- silver is the latest focus. china's efforts to control new virus infections are undermining

the economic recovery. january data shows factory output and services both weakening. korea tightens social distancing in greater soul as early prevention record turns sour. western australia's capital is also in lockdown. haidi: let's look at the market opened this morning. sophie kamaruddin is in hong kong. sophie: we are seeing shares move to the downside 1/10 of 1% lower after the work week for the asx 200 since october. a close eye on the minors today. ozzy under pressure as well. -- aussie under pressure as well. a slowdown in recovery for the manufacturing and services side. we had the first lockdown also weighing on sentiments. more upside for the aussie dollar after its biggest weekly decline since october. kiwi structs -- stocks under pressure as well. japanese stocks, nikkei futures

coming down lower as well. metals very much in focus. looking at the board now with silver in focus. silver futures breaching the 29 dollars an ounce level. this has received the jump extending with the metal in the reddit traders with the hashtag squeeze and play. silver a bit of a focus today. haidi: we also have an update when it comes to property price gauges in australia. the australian home prize number coming through month on month for january with a rise of 7/10 of 1%. it is maybe a bit of a surprise and moderation from the 9/10 of 1% we saw in december. overall, we have seen an expectation of a further lift of home prices in australia.

some of the softness when it comes to the price rise trajectory might be good news for the rba as it heads into the first meeting of the year given it has been concerns about the ovation and home price again with loose monetary conditions. let's get back to something sophie touched on. our next guest is taking note of the impact on real assets when it comes to speculative mania. scott crowe joins us from philadelphia. the latest market-making analysis is perhaps this is not a phenomenon we need to be worried about in terms of creating a systemic contagion fear across markets and asset classes. what is your take away from this? what are you telling people getting on your phone and in

your emails asking for an explanation and a forecast as to where we go from here? >> yes, and i would point out this is not just about gamestop. this has happened across the u.s. in global equity markets where we've never seen anything like this in the history of market where there is a decentralized short squeeze that is leveraged by social media. this is a new phenomenon. i would caution thinking this is just a one-off. so what we are doing is essentially we have a number of players who are finding hedge and others in short positions and corralling thousands of investors to squeeze them out. in fact, what you are seeing in the real estate space right now is some of the worst companies, frankly poor balance sheets and

fundamentals, are up 300%. this is also where the markets are softening. it is a reflection of the fact that the markets very one-sided -- market is very one-sided with winners and losers. all of this is also reversionary traders coming back to the marketplace. haidi: i'm curious about what these companies are doing and thinking right now. if you are a gamestop or amc, any of these companies suddenly finding yourself flush with cash, what are you doing right now? do we expect a flurry of share influence away from the coming weeks? >> this is the problem. the whole investment thesis of squeezing the shorts is it works as prices go up, but as soon as they don't, it doesn't all work and it is every man and woman for himself. conversely, this is about beating up wall street.

what tends to happen is a lot of executives have cashed out of options and stocks on the back of this and i think you will see share influence -- issuance by big companies. they now have the opportunities to deleverage the balance sheet. the outcome of this is it will allow these companies to basically arbitrage the mispricing of the stock by issuing capital. that helps people close their short position and then in those stocks, brings the nomadic becky alicia and to an end. shery: do you worry about broader regulatory impact because of all of this happening now? >> with interesting is if anything, wall street kind of self regulated this. you were talking earlier, or one of your presenters come on the restriction of the amount of options you can buy and amount

of shares you can buy in companies like gamestop. options are important. if you buy short dated auctions -- options, very small money has a big impact in terms of underlying demand of shares as the brokers hedge call options they sell you. you are actually seeing wall street try and corner off this speculative mania. i think it is difficult for regulators to regulate social media. it is hard to prove there's any mall intent, but you saw that reddit shut down the handle that was driving gamestop. i think you will see the players involved do a bit of self-regulation or quarantining this to the extent they can. shery: that's interesting. let's turn to the fundamentals, because they still matter, hopefully. you like global utilities because they are cheap. give us some of your conviction

calls. >> we like global utilities, i think they are looking attractive versus what we expect to be low bond yields for quite a long time. we don't see the 10 year moving up significantly until 2023. apart from that, where is the money headed? covid has accelerated a number of trends that were already happening pre-covid. in places where we have been investing at center square such as industrial warehouse distribution, e-commerce was already growing as a percentage of retail, and it has been given a huge boost forward as we have tens of millions of new amazon prime members into the ecosystem, also'in the united states, people are moving out words of big cities into the suburbs, and also into the sunbelt that has cheaper cost-of-living, better whether, and lower taxes. that causes a huge need of

multi-residential family development in the suburbs. there's a poor supply of affordable housing in the u.s. and that is something we are focused in, single-family or multifamily suburban houses in the south. haidi: asia ex japan is 3% and japan is 4%. we have seen the strongest, some of the strongest pandemic handling and recovery in this part of the world. why are you more heavy weight the big develop markets, as we know the markets are struggling with cases as well as the rollout of the vaccine? >> the u.s. has handled this virus one of the worst in the world. i'm sitting here right now as an australian and seeing what's happening in australia and shaking my head that we are in the middle of this second wave. there's a lot of concern with the vaccine of course, but of course the fundamentals are hit much more in the u.s. more acutely. it is a very acute hit within

the real estate sector. it's focused on hospitality and leisure and real estate. those areas were generally underweight. why they were more overweight in the u.s. is they tend to have more alternative real estate sectors like single-family rentals, life sciences, industrial warehouse distributions, cell towers, data centers. 50% of the u.s. market in nontraditional factors whereas in other parts of the world, it is office and retail heavy and those areas are getting most it by covid both in the short run, but also we think in the long run. shery: great having your thoughts, thank you for joining us. scott crowe, chief investment strategist at centersquare investment management. breaking news, myanmar's leader has been detained. this according to the ruling party spokesperson.

voters saying that it might be a coup on the way. we had heard last week from the military that they floated the idea of revoking the constitution and a spokesperson had not necessarily declined to rule out a coup. this happened since the ruling national league for democracy won the landslide victory in the november poll, only the second free general election after decades of military rule. since then, we have seen the military and political factions demanding authorities investigate allegations of mass voting fraud. voters reporting that leader au ng san suu kyi detained. karina: a resurgence of coronavirus for cases undermining the recovery that has been a rare bright spot globally. the first official data for january shows activity is much lower than december with services markedly weaker.

. manufacturing pmi fell to 51.3, and nonmanufacturing slid to 52.4 from 55.7 in december. in other news, the world health organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus, have visited the wet market in wuhan where the first outbreak was reported. experts say a single visit is unlikely to reduce fast results, with similar investigations normally lasting years. the west australian capital of perth back in full lockdown after a worker at a quarantine hotel tested positive for covid-19. the restrictions will last at least five days and include a stay-at-home order, closure of schools, bars, places of worship, and mandatory mask wearing. western australia has not recorded a case of community transmission of the virus for about 10 months. india will announce its latest budget later monday as spending plans described by ministers as

unprecedented. the government tried to revive an economy mired in recession and hit by covid-19 and foreign disputes. if history is any gauge, the recent rough ride for stocks will continue. the bse has risen in a budget month only twice in the last seven years since narendra modi came into power. global news 24 hours a day on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. i'm karina mitchell, this is bloomberg. haidi: looking ahead to the budget in india and the broader outlook for the economic recovery. mahindra group's chief economist sachchidanand shukla will join us. coming up next, republicans offering a covid relief bill compromise to president biden costing less than half of his own plan. we will have the latest on those nego

shery: 10 republican senators have proposed an alternative plan for covid-19 economic stimulus, costing about $600 billion that they say would gain bipartisan support. it comes as republicans mostly rejected joe biden's $1.9 trillion plan. treasury secretary janet yellen reiterates the need to act big on stimulus. >> there's a huge amount of pain in our economy right now and it was evident in the data released yesterday. the price of doing nothing is much higher than the price of doing something, and doing something big. we need to act now and the benefits of acting now and acting big will far outweigh the costs in the long run. shery: let's get more from our deputy managing editor. does a streamlined version of the package make sense now? if you pass it with bipartisan

support, that would free democrats from pursuing other goals through the resolution tool pathway here. >> exactly. that is one thing we have heard from republican aides today, that something could be done quite quickly, leaving democrats to make another circle around, the elements republicans don't want to see. . they talked about an emergency bill but republicans don't want to see measures like increasing the minimum wage at this time. maybe never, but certainly not in a bill that is put forward as an emergency coronavirus stimulus. we have to remember congress did pass a 900 billion dollars stimulus package in december with bipartisan support. we will hear more about the republican plan tomorrow. certainly understand it includes direct checks, possibly topping

out at the $1000 level and might be more targeted, going to less people, and basically matching the biden plan on certain elements including increased funds for vaccine distribution. presumably over the course of the next few days, we can see some talks about this plan. i think it would be a bad time, and president joe biden rejected it out of hand, and if he didn't hear the republicans out. haidi: seems like when it comes to the virus, we are getting mixed signals with cautious optimism about falling case numbers. . at the same time, we continue to be worried about new variants. reporter: yes, there's a race between new variants, getting the vaccine out as soon as possible, and sitting back and looking at the positives we have seen, with daily cases in the u.s. down 40% from the peak, hospitalizations off 24%.

those are pretty compelling metrics at this point. but we did hear from one of president biden's coronavirus task force members today who warned about seeing restaurants and businesses opening up, be prepared to reverse course if these variants take hold. of course, there's different information about whether the vaccines are as effective against new variants. so some of the new variants are in the united states, but on a low level. it remains to be seen if the mitigation efforts can keep them at bay and if the trend we are seeing continues over the next few weeks. haidi: roz krasner, our deputy managing editor with the latest. coming up, china's efforts to control a recent resurgence of covid-19 undercutting the country's economic recovery. and radically changing the lunar new year travel period.

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haidi: china's efforts to control the recent resurgence of covid-19 cases are undercutting a recovery, which has been one of the bright spots in the global economy. our markets coanchor in beijing, tom mackenzie. this time of year, you see people starting to make that big journey across the country. how has it been different? what are you seeing that makes this year's lunar new year different, and also getting issues for the economic recovery as well? reporter: absolutely. normally, you would accept -- expect 1.7 billion trips this time of year as hundreds of millions travel across the country. the government says that likely

to fall 40% but some indicators say it could fall even further. we have travel over the weekend, 17 million trips or thereabouts saturday. that was down about 75% from the previous year and 2019 levels. the reason for that is the government has put in restrictions on travel and movement of people because they are concerned about a resurgence in covid-19 cases. that is putting a squeeze on consumption, everything from entertainment to leisure to tourism, and that is impacting the data and is likely to impact them in the days ahead. we don't need nonmanufacturing pmi over the weekend. it took a real hit. we saw 52.4 for january. that was well below the consensus of 55. it was the lowest since march 2020. and largely due to these restrictions. on the manufacturing side, slightly less bad than the services. we still saw a drop era 51.3 in terms of manufacturing versus 51.9 in december.

still pretty strong demand for china's exports and electronic equipment. in nomura, this weekend data they say, could persuade policymakers to go slow on any attempts to pull back on stimulus and support for the economy. shery: we also have more details when it comes to china's anti-monopoly drive. what do we know? reporter: that's right. we got a little more detail out of the weekend from the state council who put out a statement saying that they would try to strengthen the enforcement and improve law enforcement when it comes to monopolistic practices. of course, we know this will be a priority for officials in china this year. they said they will take a particular look at new platforms, new economy platforms, but also the sharing economy. is also going to be an effort to better regulate the use of consumer data. that is going to be new as well.

we also have from president xi jinping, he talked about the need, and he's publishing an article that will come out about the need to strengthen intellectual property. he says there's a clear number of reasons. one is national security and one is quality development. the other is to make sure it conforms with china's continued progress at opening up the economy. intellectual property infringement continues to be one of the key bugbears of foreign companies operating here. part of it is ensuring china is innovating smes to make sure they can protect intellectual property as well. haidi:haidi: our markets coanchor tom mackenzie in beijing. let's get a check of the latest business flash headlines. silver seems to be the latest focus of reddit day traders, suggesting the frenzied trading from last week is spelling into physical assets. manufacturer say they are unable to process orders because of

unprecedented demand. minors and exchange traded funds as well. after being on the end of a short screen -- squeeze from reddit motivated retail traders, melvin now has the lowest leveraged in 2014 after the fund said it repositioned at portfolio. melvin was founded by a former steve cohen ally dave plotkin. hedge fund veteran dan loeb has made some money in january. the offshore fund gained nearly 2% last month. investment firms like d1 capital partners and .72 have been hit hard after shares companies that were better against were driven up by frenzied retail trading. billionaire founder of point 72 and new york mets owner steve --

steve cohen has quit twitter after saying his family has been threatened. cohen has complained about what he calls the rough crowd on twitter after his short bet on gamestop. coming up on "bloomberg daybreak: asia." south korea extending social distancing restrictions through the lunar new year holidays as new infections surge. the latest from seoul, next. this is bloomberg. ♪

anchor: let's take a look at how the trading week is starting off. were you watching? >> looking like a weak start. futures in singapore opening with little change. falling as much as 1% this afternoon. the stock fell into the red for the year last weekend. in australia we are seeing it go lower as it extends the climb for a fourth straight day. silver mines gaining back. jumping 44%. climbing to a september 2015 hi amidst the focused on silver.

we saw prices earlier jumped more than a percent. amid seeing it top 29 dollars an hour earlier. it is reddit fueled buying that is pushed it up. a fickle market, as well as the #squeezesilver trending on twitter. this as the outlook for metal has been quite optimistic. they're targeting $30 an ounce for silver. sherry? >> it's the same group of reddit inspired retail traders that pushed gamestop, amc and other poor performing stocks into the stratosphere. sue's been tracking this. we are seeing this frenzy spreading from the equity space in the commodity space. reporter: we are seeing silver futures surge at the week's open

and also all related assets such as silver coins, bars, and etf's. the big story over the weekend before the asia open, coin sites like money milled -- money meld, the walmart of precious metals in north america, they have been unable to process orders. until asian markets ordered, because they are overwhelmed with demand, unprecedented demand, fueled by the site. you're seeing silver surge, also the silver etf. all spiking 6% in the past week. we are seeing is holding onto physical bars, not taking profits which created an issue of short supply, a tight supply. the same group behind gamestop, which once you never before seen heights, even though it is a battered down stock, that had to do with a short squeeze, a silver squeezed is the new title of a these tweets going out.

one of the observers of what is going on with this gamestop phenomenon now being translated into the metal market is that the coin shops are running out of coins, so that may not be unusual, and the silver market is much bigger than the market for a single stock like gamestop. there is a view the best the traders might do here is the short pop. we heard from j.p. morgan chase that this whole reddit phenomenon is not going to have a contagion into the wider market, it will be short-lived, but it is living on right now in the very big way, front and center in the silver market. heidi? haidi: unlike gamestop, silver is not the beaten-down little guy. precious metals have been on a roll since last year. reporter: that is definitely the

case. silver has gained more than 50% in the past year. that is largely on recovery. in comments on silver began appearing on the reddit fueled platform called wall street bets just last week's -- just last week. people act each other to pile into silver. that may have something to do with the biggest banks out there positioning or putting out commentary that silver is one of the best places to be right now. goldman sachs recently stated at the end of january, january 27, that as this was preferred precious metals with a price target of $30 an ounce. we are approaching that. with this rally behind it. i should point out, $3 million on the american eagle coins have risen from five dollars to two dollars. game on. as the reddit traders would say.

back to you. haidi: let's get to karina mitchell now with the headlines? >> former president trump heads to his second impeachment trial and his senate. his legal team is seemingly in disarray. some of his top lawyers quit this weekend, despite his initial charges being due on tuesday. senior trump advisors say must -- say much work has been done on the arguments and the final decision on the legal team she will be made shortly. meanwhile, myanmar is facing political crisis. reports saying that the defective leader ang saying suki has been to paint -- has been detained. rising tension between the military and the nominally civilian government. her party one in september's 11 -- september selection and a landslide. the top general considering revoking constitution. vietnam has reelected the

communist party general secretary to a rare third term. the central committee also selected the politburo which will nominate the prime minister and members of the national assembly later this week. the leadership is seen as staunchly anticorruption and has repeatedly voted vietnam integration into the economy. news outlets are reporting that lionel messi's contract at barcelona. messy has a lucrative contract -- has the most lucrative contract in sports history. it is put at $674 million for the next three years, barcelona denied leaking the details and say they are suing. global news. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am karina mitchell. this is bloomberg. shery: we turn to south korea

and its extended coastal -- so covid-19 conditions for another two weeks. bureau chief peter page joins us. we saw the number of new cases following over the weekend. -- following over the weekend. why did they extend the measures? reporter: that is because fewer people are getting tested. it is not a good reflection on the virus trend. the government is more concerned with the cluster outbreaks at dormitory style cramps tools -- cram schools, where hundreds of teenagers cram in. those outbreaks have been pretty disappointing, since the number of daily new cases have been dropping, and it seemed like the country was able to contain the latest third wave, as they call it. it peaked at 1200 in late september and went to the low for hundreds. and it spikes up again because

of the cluster outbreaks. nearly 600 last week. and of course, as you mention, the lunar new year is coming up. that is a huge worry for them. families are traveling and getting together, etc., and that is creating the risk of another search. those factors, the government decided to keep the social distancing measures in place. haidi: globally, south korea has been held up as the model to successfully manage the virus, contained two prior major surges, so what is been so challenging about the latest wave? reporter: this is the winter wave that, globally, everyone is been fearful of. south korea is not immune to that. what is been particularly difficult for south korea is, unlike the prior two waves, which were centered among certain city or certain groups of activities, like a major

church outbreak, this one is all over the place. i think it is reflective of what is going on globally. because it is so widespread, both geographically and demographically, it has been difficult to contain. >> an update on the virus in south korea. coming up, the budget and prime ministers maranda modi's -- prime minister modi's chance to jumpstart demand. this is bloomberg.

haidi: india faces a tough balancing act as the modi administration prepares a budget for a country of more than one billion people. the government will be looking to replenish the coffers and revive the economy in recession amid the coronavirus pandemic. we look at the challenges and why foreign companies will be watching closely. it has been a rallying quiet of narendra modi's efforts to improve india's economy. but investors will be watching how modi slogans translate into results, when his admits ration was at its latest lending plan. it is a tough balancing act. it is grappling with its worth economic contraction in 17

years, with millions of jobs lost. but the government is can bad -- is combating that analysts think tax caps, high capital expenditure, and welfare in infrastructure will be central to the finance minister strategy. a potential buyback plan for all vehicles could accelerate the demands. investors will be watching with additional support, after the central bank warned that bad loans could hit a 22 year high by september. agriculture will be in focus two. the government made try to ease tension in the farming sector. forgot needs from ikea to tesla will be watching for india's policies on import taxes. a possible hike could add an incentive for some. trade tensions between china and the u.s.. to look ahead of the budget, is

cheaper economist. great to have you with us. given what the indian economy is facing right now, what should the government prioritize in this budget? >> thank you for having me. as you know, context matters more in economics. given the backdrop we have had because of covid, this is going to be the most important budget in recent times. in a large economy like india, the policy to pull people out of poverty why expanding economic. but this is going to be the most desirable outcome of this budget. the key question is whether the government will do anything big to put india on a higher sustainable growth path for the medium term. our bnn statements were given, the most important thing because of the context i mentioned, the

key thing is, will the government be able to do needing major in terms of putting india back on a media terms structure -- medium terms structure. the budget will be expansionary. they will do things like privatization of government taxes, there will be expenditure and also the quantity of expenditure will be advertised in india to boost india's sustainable growth rate. some of these things that remain central will be, as we all know, to lift onboard the uneven economy of india. shery: could we see more momentum for the privatization? given, again, the government is

expected to administer the goals in absolving state assets could help. >> absolutely. one thing which is very clear on the economic sector is that it has argued for expansionary budgets. privatization has been hanging for quite some time. the question is, can the government enable it, as opposed to not so far. and we might see is a big privatization drive that leaves out the strategy -- lays out the strategy. all the medium term. important for the government to bring down share holding below 51%. they are going for strategic privatization. -- prioritization. that could really help the government pull out of where they are.

in keeping the private sector active would really help the spirits of the economy. if it was unleashed on the public, the infrastructure, as we know, 19 percent, i think public expenditure will be a necessary condition and getting the private sector to spend. we are expecting some big announcement on the prioritize -- privatization drive. haidi: we worry a lot about the level of permanent economic scarring. what sort of reforms, structural reforms, would you like to see to address some of these issues? >> you're right. in economy like india's has been scarred.

the pandemic has made the economy much more unequal. unemployment has been a challenge. there is been permanent damage to the economy. i think what we want from the government is some sort of if and when the economy goes back on an even keel, there are wonderful things the government can do, for example, formalization, for example, you would've heard about the jam trinity. the government is using technology to impact the lives of millions of people. there will be 400 million accounts opened. 19 million farmers. -- 90 million farmers.

800 million people have got food, free food. we have opportunities in things like telemedicine, i.t. services, and i think one of the most important things i will look for is, can the government fix the credit cycle? with financial sector regulations on mandates. and also bringing which could also finance near long-term needs. i thing that will be really helpful -- i think that will be really helpful. haidi: we really appreciate your time. it seems strong -- it sees strong interest across iron

bonds. backing health care in tech heading into 21. starting manager partner duane, china's regulatory crackdown could be a boost to companies. but it carries with it risk. >> janine when we close the dollar fund at the end of last year, and just recently in january we close our yield fun. -- yield fund. our current u.s. dollar fund in this uu bank, but the significance of it is that we raise multiple dollar funds and a new rmb fund during the pandemic. at the beginning we were concerned by the pandemic that it would impact the fundraising, but it turned out to be not. there's interest in both the

dollar side and the rmb side. it remained for surprisingly strong. -- it remained surprisingly strong. if you look at the global capital markets, while there were a lot of headwinds on main street, on the travel industry, and whatnot, wall street, asian market was doing quite well. the hong kong dollar was doing well. capital raising last year. it was a pretty productive year. a good year. >> you have backed hundreds of companies over the years, some big names. what themes are you looking at now? >> on the health care side, we've had a number of successes, from development to insulin to

medical services and so on. we continue to be excited about the health care industry in china, from the farmer to services. on the tech side, obviously, a lot of enterprise sought headwinds. it is finally happening in china. for the longest time, people were not paying for software. now we are seeing central payments in the software sector. and semiconductors are another area. >> how much of a fundamental change to you think that focus by regulators will end up having on the technology sector? >> any fundamental change in restraining monopolies behaviors and so forth, could be positive

to us. on the other hand, as i mentioned earlier about geopolitics, our biggest concern is your reactions to, knee-jerk reactions to certain events. we do sensei slowdown. -- we do sense a slow down. some people attributed to the events of pulling and financial whatnot causing differ factors, and so on. these kinds of things do have an impact on how we run our business. again, continuity, stability, there are things we hope for.

it is getting better. but it is not there yet. some measures to at least make the groundrules clearer, that would certainly be helpful to us. us meaning, vc's who invest into early-stage technology companies. quite frankly, with new technologies in a business model to possibly disrupt some of these big companies. >> how hopeful are you these regulatory changes will lead to a more thriving tech sector, more thriving startups and more opportunities for vc's? >> i am hopeful. it is trending that way.

i think as long as the policies and regulations are applied fairly across the board, then positive results will come about. >> speaking to tom mackenzie. this is bloomberg.

haidi: japan and south korea opened of the top of the hour. let's turn to hong kong for what to watch. sophie echo >> intended due to report. we are keeping an eye on komatsu. the mining equipment main are -- maker is on track for its annual target. that company may see a slower recovery ahead. let's keep an eye on a&a airlines after a quarterly loss smaller than expected. the carriers prospects are getting back. let's keep an eye on the local leader report that a battery reporter from genmauy is set to build europe's largest battery plant in hungary. haidi: coming up in the next

hour, daybreak asia, we are joined by richard harris. a key driver other than this retail revolution we are seeing. this is bloomberg.

shery: welcome to daybreak asia. i'm shery. haidi: i'm in sydney. asia's major markets have just open for trade. our top stories. silver the latest focus on traders. up 8% today. restrictions are undermining

china's economic recovery. services easing on falling demand. myanmar is facing a new crisis with reports that it's to factor leader has been to fit -- has been detained. there are increasing talk of a military coup. breaking news out of south korea. export numbers for the month of january right now beating estimates. up 11.4%. the estimate was only 9.8%. a second consecutive month of double-digit growth for south korea. chip escorts rising -- chip rising. major demand from exports to the u.s. jumping 46.1%. exports to china gaining 22%. when it comes to the import numbers also beating expectations, a rise of 3.1%.

the yearly estimate was only for rented 2% gain. that means the trade surplus has come a little below then what is estimated. at 3.96 billion dollars, the estimate was for around $4 billion. export numbers in south korea beating expectations. double-digit growth for a second month, rising 11.4% year on year. let's return to hong kong. now at japan and south korea. >> the open and south korea, on the one hand, the extension of social distancing measures in seoul, we're seeing the kospi grain ground. it has not been the worst week for the regional index. over at stan charts, the korean currencies seeing a move back below 1100 this quarter. we're seeing returning risk

assessments. let's look at the opens in japan this morning. keeping an eye on restaurant stocks. on reports that the government may extend the state of emergency in some areas until march 7. the yen is trading near a november low. this on the boj's plans to reduce shorter term debt by this month. let's see what's going on in sydney. all the stocks under pressure, losing more than 1%. financials under pressure, engineering company is the one former that covid has impacted its end of market. silver mine shares are jumping in sydney. this as we see this reddit fueled rally and silver futures. there jumping more than 8%. not going so much into other commodities.

amid concern around infections reflected in the soft chinese pmi data we got on sunday. s and c futures falling by more than 1%. that is below 13,000 this morning. we have more asian pmi's on debt. along with india's. budget announcement. back to february trading this week. haidi., keep an eye on earnings from nintendo and later this week alibaba. haidi: the question is, three start looking at earnings again or is this another month of trading dominated by the retail headlines? let's see what richard harris hasn't said. he pointed out earlier that we see silver. we see some of these new targets for the reddit retail revolution, as you will. will this continue to be the focus. what are you looking ahead to

this february, given the massive earning news coming out as well? >> january saw a bit of a positive, we saw most markets on the weak side. february may well be the same. the markets have had a very good run, but there are plenty of reasons out there for the main markets to keep going. huge amount of liquidity. i think we will seek pieces of good news coming out. we have seen negative news coming out of china, but china is five months ahead or so of the rest and has good figures at the end of last year. that will keep the main market going. we are looking at the reddit issue. it is a distraction, it is surprising that trolling has taken so long to reach the financial market when it has been pretty common in social media in general. i think this is a phenomenon that is likely to continue.

however, those of us in the markets who are properly regulated, you know what is happening out there is actually illegal, and the regulators will have to take a good strong look at what is happening before smaller players get hurt. haidi: it's very difficult to make the legal case under the definition we have now that what they are doing is illegal. that has been the view of most experts we have spoken to. but there are other options in terms of transaction taxes and more regulatory oversight. is this something you are concerned about? does this change the way you structure your portfolio and make choices, and is this something you are having to -- what are you telling people who are asking you about this? >> i think it means people need to be more careful. clearly the head funds are going to be more concerned about what exactly they have it -- in

shorts. the market was always a dog eat dog place, and if you left yourself to expose, you got yourself into trouble. even j.p. morgan was a london whale a few years ago. i think this was a phenomenon that was limited. a can only work on a few stocks. the guys who are doing it our little bit like the beach bums on the beach, they're looking for a good wave, if they find a good wave, they'll surf in on that, but a lot of people will get wiped out along the way. it can only work in small stocks in certain areas. maybe on a weekend in commodity markets when trading is relatively thin. i think it is a local phenomenon . i think it is here to stay. people have to be more careful. but it will not change the world. shery: it will change the environment for those companies

being affected right? gamestop and amsi are really pressured when it comes to actual business. but with all this money can actually afford to do a little more? when should we start looking at when flows actually do affect fundamentals for these companies? what does not become a story? >> i think it is difficult for flows to affect these companies. you look at gamestop, a sector declining for years, recently so heavily shorted because people think disruptors are going to kill the stock eventually. it takes a long time to even if you can raise equity now, to refinance the company, to turn the company around and move it into an area that we will see real growth. i do not think operationally it will be much health -- much help. i still think it will be a relatively local phenomenon. maybe short-term instances and

situations where people will take a vantage of higher share prices, but this can only work in certain ways. there are only certain ways out there -- only certain waves out there people can ride on. it is going to pass. but people are still going to have to be careful about what they tell the markets. shery: what will be the impacted a show? we already hearing in south korea, people asking for shortselling to be banned outright, not just extending the ten-month band they have already. -- ten-month ban they have already. that could be a distortion of the markets and how you efficiently real lack -- reallocate capital in that situation. >> i think the call for banning shorts is a fairly common one, especially from directors whose companies are underperforming.

but they have an important role in the market. when you run a hedge fund, you generally want to have your long positions long-term. you want your short positions short-term. they may work, they may not. a short squeeze very painful. i think people will have to be more careful with what shorts they keep on long term. shorting the market is another important way that the market actually stays honest. the prices stay in the right sort of position. people a made a great deal of money out of their short books. i do you would be wrong to let it disappear. it is generally company directors who are worried their own companies are likely to be shorted, should we say like tesla, that elon musk has called against it, they are the ones who call for a short band. shery: always great having your insights. >> thank you. haidi: karina mitchell with the

headlines. >> wealth -- world health organization team investigating the origins of the coronavirus have visited the wet market in wuhan where the first outbreak was recorded. they also wanted to hospitals that treated covid patients. experts say single visit is unlikely to produce fast results, with similar investigations normally lasting for years. meanwhile, perth is back in full locked down after a worker at a quarantine hotel tested positive for the virus. their stations will be in effect for five days and include stay-at-home orders in the closure of schools, and mandatory mass wearing. western australia has not recorded a case of community transmission of the virus for 10 months. over to india, it will announce its latest budget later monday. it is described by ministers as unprecedented, as the government

tries to provide for an economy mired by recession. if history is any guide, the recent stock rise will continue. the budget has only risen twice in seven years since narendra modi came to power. myanmar is facing political crisis, with reports saying the defect or leader has been detained. reporter say she and other senior leaders are stuck in tensions between the military and the nominally civilian government. the army is disputing september's election, which her party one in a landslide, with the top general proposing the idea of revoking the constitution. global news 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. i am karina mitchell. this is bloomberg. haidi? haidi: the reddit horns are back. we will see the precious metals surging in the asian session of

the start of the week. meanwhile #silversqueeze is trending on twitter. more regional prince do this hour. this is bloomberg. - [announcer] imagine having fuller, thicker, more voluminous hair instantly. all it takes is just one session at hairclub. introducing xtrands. xtrands adds hundreds or even thousands of hair strands

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>> the prices while. >> gamestop, amsi, blackberry -- >> we are worried about the integrity of the marketplace. >> it sounds a lot like market manipulation. >> none of this is questionable in my mind. >> it probably needs to be regulated. >> what we do not need his congress to come in and save everyone. >> the system from ace financial stability perspective still is robust. >> this will end badly.

>> everyone talking about rational or irrational. >> over the long run irrationality -- rationality will be irrational. >> it will probably end in tears for a lot of these retail investors and headphones. haidi: some of our guest weighing in on the gamestop mania. sue is following the action. it appears retail traders are taking aim at silver. reporter: we're starting to see silver future surge last week. we are seeing that again in the asia open. not only silver coins, bars, in fact, over the weekend, point sites such as money metals, the north american version of walmart in terms of being able to sell a lot of different coins and medals, they were unable to process their orders because demand was just off the hook.

if you take a look at silver which is been moving higher, the silver etf, silver trusts, they were up 6% in the past week. they're expected to move higher. given the tension of -- given the attention of these reddit traders. that seems to add to the perception of a very tight supply. again, it is the same group of retail traders we see pushing gamestop to unprecedented highs, but a lot of market observers point out, even though the #is silversqueeze, it is a lot harder to squeeze a commodities market, and there are not a lot of short positions in silver. the size of a signal stock like gamestop, where the volume before the run-up was about 50 million daily last year, pales in comparison to the average volume we see in the silver market.

11 billion in the silver futures market in 2020. commodity short squeezes can happen, but market forces no there simply is not a large silver supports position to squeeze. makes a been recommending hedge funds along. it is expected that this rented army may be able to cause a short-term pop, but because the market is overwhelmingly long, it is not quite sure what it will do beyond that. haidi? haidi: last week we saw hedge funds taking big losses on the chin as a result of this. what is the laces? -- what is the latest? >> it is a reddit fueled army of investors who have put a pin on the market in a particular, a lot of hedge funds and short-sellers no capital is the most visible of the walking wounded of the hedge funds that have worn the front of losses by

gamestop. according to people close to the matter, one lost 53% investments on january. we now know that a large had fund -- a large head fund which is tied to citadel, are investors in melvin. they took a hit. what is interesting is a lot of speculation is focused on citadel securities. it is the sister of citadel hedge fund and citadel now saying they are not involved or responsible for any of the retail or corporate decisions. but a lot of focus on what their involvmay be. back to you. haidi: you can read more about the gamestop mania in today's edition of daybreak. bloomberg subscribers go to their terminal. this is available on the bloomberg anywhere app. coming up next, an exclusive

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haidi: venture partners is an esteemed strong interest across the dollar and rmb funds in his backing health care in tech heading into 2021. speak exclusively to billboard, to bluebird -- two bloomberg, duane wong. >> even when we close the dollar funds, at the end of last year, and just recently in january we close our new fun. we have a concurrent u.s. dollar fund and rmb fund for the last 10 years.

this is not a new thing. but the significance of it is we raised the dollar fund and the new rmb fund amidst the pandemic. at the beginning we were concerned about the pandemic, that it may impact the fundraising, but in the end, it turned out to be fairly smooth. investor interest from both the dollar side as well as the rmb side remains a surprisingly strong. if you look at the global capital market, while there were a lot of headwinds on main street, on the travel industry, wall street was red-hot. the asian market was quite, was doing quite well. the hong kong listings were doing well. so capital raising last year was

actually a pretty productive year. a good year. >> you've backed hundreds of companies over the years. some big names. what themes are you looking at now? >> on the health care side, we have a number of successes. including vaccine development, insulin, to medical services and so on. we continue to be excited about the health care industry in china. from the farmer, to services, and on the tech side, obviously a lot of enterprise opportunities are happening in china. for the longest time people were not paying up for software. we are now seeing essential payments in the software sector

and semiconductors and other areas we should be excited about. >> much of a fundamental change do you think that focus by regulators will have on the technology sector here? >> any fundamental change restraining monopoly behaviors and so-and-so could be positive to us. on the other hand, as i mentioned earlier about the geopolitics, our biggest concern is reactions, knee-jerk reactions to certain events. we could see a slowdown lifting in china. right now. some people attribute it because

because the events, and financial and so on. so these kind of things do have an impact on how we run our business. again, continuity, stability of the regulatory regime are things we hope for. it is getting better, but it is not there yet. i think some measures to at least make the ground rules clear and, that would certainly be helpful to us. us meaning, vc's who invest into early-stage technology companies. quite frankly, with the goal of using new technologies and new business models to palpably

disrupt some of these big companies. >> how hopeful are you, then, that these changes will lead to a more thriving tech sector? a more thriving startups? and more opportunity? >> i am hopeful. i think it is trending that way. i think as long as the policies and regulations are applied fairly across the board, then positive results will come about. haidi: duane kuang speaking exclusively to bloomberg's tom mackenzie. indonesia has the most tech unicorn technologies in asia.

bain capital founding partner joins us exclusively to discuss. up next, virus is hurting china's recovery over -- ahead of the lunar new year. this is bloomberg.

>> this is dave thank -- daybreak asia. 23 nation group aims to withhold more than 7 billion barrels of oil from mike again. they plan to increase production. it will be done -- former president trump has named a new legal team as he had towards his second impeachment trial. some of his top lawyers have

quit. they wanted site is that the election was stolen. set to maintain its path. the central committee also selected the bureau that will be named later this week. it has repeatedly endorsed into the global economy. switching gears, and the headlines with a news outlet announcing the contract in barcelona. a cutdown version of the deal saying that he had the most lucrative contract and sports history. they are put at $674 million over the next four years.

barcelona denied leaking the details and said that they are stealing. -- suing. global news, 24 hours a day, on air and on quicktake by bloomberg, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in over 120 countries. fto. -- back to you. haidi: this is what we are showing -- seeing what comes to the pmi ratings. manufacturing pmi showing that it is still in contraction territory. sentiment is looking mixed. adding on the back of the, sentiment is ticking higher. we are seen an extension. similarly positive numbers with a third straight month of gain. looking pretty positive. when it comes to vietnam, really

positive data that came in. some weakness could be ahead with a fallback in vietnam and malaysia. shery: these are coming off of numbers coming out of china. the data showed activity expanding slower amid a diverse resurgence. great to have you with us. more export oriented. a bigger role when it comes to the support of the chinese economy. what are we expecting on this front? >> there was a drop. it is larger than the average drop in the last 10 years.

of course, we saw a resurgence in covid-19 in china and some lockdowns. that definitely had an impact on china and will continue to have an impact on the chinese economy. i think the number of estates the weakness in chinese sector -- export sector. there has been some logistical issues. we have seen shipping costs surging since december. had something to do with the decrease in export orders, in the pmi. shery: how important with those numbers become engaging where

the pboc goes from here? >> the employment data has something to do but that. the interprofessional -- interprovincial -- some migrant workers may decide to leave the cities and the back to their hometown early. we may have some playing out there. i think sector is still pretty weak, especially the industrial sector last year. that number is definitely significant. this year, even if the chinese government does not set an economic target, i expect they would set an unemployment tie

that would be a target for growth. haidi: we continue to look at consumer sentiment as this final piece of the recovery. how much of a dent on consumer sentiment that half of the population while be traveling for chinese new year. it will not be spending the way that they normally would be. >> a delayed recovery and consumption, on the consumption front because during chinese new year, he would have services picked up, an increase in retail sales, and all of that. some of that retail may be offset online. services will be lost. tourism, transportation -- that

will have a victim tact. because it is bigger than secondary -- even if manufacturing sector picks up more because migrant workers decide to stay at their workplace and continue working, i think that increase from the manufacturing sector is probably not going to be able to fully offset the losses from the sector. haidi: is it something that the markets need to continue to be watchful for, particularly as he said that are particularly good signals of overheating? >> we have been saying that the second half of last year, policy has clearly started to

normalize, and i think, the pboc has a very good track record. the comment on an uptrend -- usually the pboc does not reverse its course. we might see some fine-tuning here and there. they will be very data dependent, but we do not see the pboc shifting its policy normalization. haidi: we really appreciate your time. the chinese investment strategist there. more on china's economy ahead. plus, we will be hearing from others. let's take a look at how markets are faring in this early part of the trading week. set fiasco -- sophie?

sophie: the kospi is fluctuating, heading lower. samsung is weighing on the benchmark. we are seeing an earlier drop while solar futures are extending the reddit rally. a quick check on some stock movers. in japan, some early report cards. gaining ground. the road to recovery looking more challenging. we are also manufacturing -- this after it left its view unchanged. we want to highlight the drive, citing differences when it comes

to tech and production. seeing shares rally today. this after a price target of ¥7,000. this after saying it wanted sales approval from canada. saying that it is recruiting patients for a phase three study for a covid drug treatment. shery: coming up, india's finance minister set to deliver the annual budget, looking ahead to the key economic challenges and why -- what they are looking for. this is bloomberg. ♪

the growth sector is important. year on year, every year, for an effective push. >> i am expecting the same to come up. >> one example is during the capitalization. >> ensuring that inflation is in

control. at the same time, the growth of the economy. >> the measures within the context. >> this could be a second wave. we would be lucky and indiana, not to have a second wave. -- in india, not to have a second wave. >> we are tightening credit, but will put a dent in the economic recovery. shery: outlining expectations for the budget. the government will be looking to replenish the coffers and replenish the economy. let's take a look at the challenges for the prime minister modi administration. >> the rallying cry of his efforts to revive the economy. investors be watching how his

slogans translate into results when his administration rolls out latest plan. it is a tough lansing act. worst contraction with millions of jobs lost in the pandemic. the government finances are battered. there is rising public debt. analysts think that higher capital and -- infrastructure will be vital. a potential buyback plan for older vehicles could accelerate men. they will be watching after the central bank warned that it could hit a 22 year high. agriculture will be used as well. foreign companies from ikea to tesla will be watching import

taxes. it could have -- it could add something. haidi: let's take a look at when markets. what has been the trend that we have seen for stockmarkets and bond market? >> good morning. stockmarkets, there is so much money moving around the world. the market hit an unprecedented high earlier this year. we are seeing a little bit of a jumble. [indiscernible] if they are disappointed, they

might increase further. only two of the last seven occasions actually valued after the budget. this time, valuations are so stretched because the economy is comedy. valuations are so stretched that the market is raising predictions. it is rally based. overall, the water index is identical. >> everything from using regulation to billy having a more generous allocation for development. what will investors be watching out for?

just to get a gauge of the markets. >> protecting the individual to actually spending. of course, the government -- [indiscernible] in terms of after, if the market has a little less recorded, the mark -- the bond market should be fine. e goment actually said we do not have the money. we need to tap the market for more than we did last year.

shery: thank you. we have more perspective had. we will speak with an associate faster from the institute of management and research. the leading political party said that they have announced civilian leaders have seized power. other senior figures were detained as the -- they protested the election. this was only the second free general election after decade of military rule. what we know so far? right. we will bring you an update on what is happening, as soon as we can. we will be connecting to our editing manager. plenty more to come.

this is bloomberg. ♪

haidi: a quick check of the latest headlines this hour. traders suggesting that it is spilling over to his class. they say they have been unable to process because of an

unprecedented demand for silver. they have driven up the price of the metal self. losing more than 2% in january on the gamestop surge after being on the end of a short squeeze. a source says they have the lowest leverage since its founding. they were founded by a former ally. making some money integrated right the turmoil caused by traders. investment firms have been hit hard after shares of company were driven up by frenzied retail trading. the operator of the short video service has raised 5 billion

u.s. dollars in hong kong. technology is backed by tencent and sold 365 million shares at the top of the. the deal banks and world's biggest internet ipo since hoover. -- uber. shery: you are taking a look at pictures. kate is on the line. this is coming after months of political dispute, after that second general election after decades of military rule. do we know about it at this point? >> this has been building for a mile. they won the last election in a landslide. there has been allegation that

there was widespread fraud and it all came to a head today. it appears, based on the party that she has been detained, along with the president. they do have a provision that allows the military to take power, in an emergency, if a nation is divided. that is one, probable explanation for what happened here. we have not heard from military directly. haidi: what options for me, going forward? -- options remain, going forward? >> myanmar a precious promise of an economic opening faded over

the years. they have struggled to rein in element of the military and are facing genocide charges for the trees -- for the treatment, so for investors have not really embraced the country fully. the military has retained a lot of power in the constitution. the fact that they are going to this extreme shows that they are very nervous about what the victory says about changes to the situation. this appears to be a big setback for them. it could lead to more section u.s. and europe. haidi: incredibly destabilizing.

we have been talking about this for many years. what happens from there, in terms of a lack confidence, on top of struggles with pandemic? >> i think investors have been staying away due to the reputational risk that already existed before this happened today. the capital market opening has been very slow. the stock exchange has struggled with listings there. the one thing in my's favor is that china has been a steady friend to all of this -- myanmar 's favor is that china has been a steady friend through all of this.

shery: let's turn to sophie on what to watch. sophie: you are watching beijing getting a nod from the shanghai stock exchange. an independent body said it's covid vaccine has met safety criteria with no serious adverse effects. a register -- shanghai national airport is on the radar after it forecast it a loss for 2020. downgrading the stock to sell. a lot to watch when it comes to the commodities space. extending the rally that was fueled by betty traders. haidi: coming up, we have conclusive interview.

we will talk about opportunities in indonesia. and we will speak with the head of research. that is it for daybreak asia. markets coverage continues. ♪

tom: it is 9:00 a.m. in beijing. i am tom mackenzie. david: i am david ingles. let's get to the top stories today. silver joining the bennett fueled frenzy.