let's get to akiko fujita who's in stoingapore. a lot of expectations the bid would be reduced significantly. >> exactly. and it looks like it's going to be just that. we're getting the details out of the press conference happening right now. coming at a $2 billion discount. when this deal was scheduled to be signed last month, it was estimated to be around $6 billion. now coming in at $3.5 billion. so a significant discount for foxconn. this marks the end of a five-year pursuit. looking at the details of this deal, foxconn announcing they would by common shares after sharp at a 32% discount to tuesday's close. that would be about 88 yen a share. they would by shares of sharp to be swapped into common shares in july of next year. when you combine all of that, foxconn would have a 72% stake in the company. this really is a reversal from what we were expecting last month with that initial deal scheduled to be signed. we saw the stock of sharp move today on speculation that this deal was imminent. sharp coming in around 6:00% higher n

for more on the asian marks trading this morning, let's get to akiko fujita standing by in singapore.> good morning to you, nancy. we're following several stories out of the chinese markets that are moving the markets tlp first, china's eighth largest investment bank. reports they have defaulted on their dim sum bonds. these are offshore bonds traded in yuan. the "financial times" reporting this default is putting a 38 million yuan coupon payment on those bonds at risk. this is significant because it marks the first time a state-owned investment bank has defaulted in nearly two decades. certainly highlighting how fragile the chinese financial system is. the big banks there already under pressure, reporting their slowest profit growth in a decade in 2015. three of the major banks reporting they wrote off a combined $22 billion in irrecoverable debt last year. looking over to the hong kong market, the hang seng closing down about 0.1%, but shares of commercial properties soaring more than 18% on news that china's largest commercial developer was looking to go private just two years afte

we're going to stay on the global theme right now and head to singapore now, where akiko fujita joins us with a look at the overnight action in asia. >> good morning to you, sara. we're seeing markets here in asia pretty much end the week on a high note for the most part. green pretty much across the board here as risk appetite increases on expectations of fewer rate hikes out of the fed. looking to the chinese markets here, the shanghai composite ending the day in positive territory, helped by new data out that showed home prices rose at the fastest rate in nearly two years, helped by big demand in these big cities. the nikkei over in japan continuing to be the lone player in the red here. it was below the 17,000 mark, closing down about 211 points. the strong yen continuing to weigh on investors there. the currency has moved about 7% on the year. it held above that key 110 mark today. it moved about 111 against the dollar. with exporters continuing to get hit hard by the strong currency, there are increasing questions about how much longer the bank of japan can continue to stay on t

akiko fujita joins us with a roundup of the asian session. good morning. >> good morning to you, sara. well, weaker than expected data out of the u.s. certainly weighing on markets across asia today. a lot of investors here also sort of staying on the sidelines, waiting to hear from janet yeln to get a better sense of when the fed will hike rates next. locking over to australia, asx 200 down about 1.5% there. heavy selling driven by increasing fears of mounting bad debts. over in japan, the nikkei 225 staying above that 17,000 handle but ending in negative territory, down about 0.2%. new data out of japan today. investors certainly not impressed. household spending rose for the first time in six months, but government officials coming out and saying that was only because of that extra day in the leap year. the jobless rate rose slightly about 3.3%. retail sales fell below expectations. that data putting more pressure on prime minister shinzo abe to delay the sales tax hike that's scheduled for next year. although, prime minister abe came out

akiko fujita is in singapore with an update. >> good morning to you, wilfred.ou talk about those dovish comments from janet yellen, certainly lifting the markets here in asia as well, along with the weaker u.s. dollar. all major indices in positive territory except for the nikkei. the nikkei below that 17,000 handle, down about 224 points there. new numbers out from factory output weighed on investors there. industrial output falling more than 6% month on month in february. that's the most since 2011 immediately after the triple disasters, the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in japan. when you combine that number with retail numbers that were out yesterday that showed a more than 2% drop, certainly shaping up to be a very weak start to the year for japan. also in japan, shares of sharp in focus after the company finally signed that deal with foxconn, giving the taiwanese company a two-thirds stake in the struggling electronics maker. that deal valued at $3.5 billion. that's about a billion-dollar discount from that initial deal that was scheduled to b