ramin, what are you seeing at the open? >> good morning to you, ai. as you said, a lot of focus on central bank policy meetings. analysts expecting the bank of japan to maintain its negative interest rate policy. let's look at the reaction for the nikkei and topix. it's pretty mild, although negative. and that follows on the pretty lackluster closings we saw on wall street that you just covered as well. so the nikkei just down 0.12% of the we'll see how that progresses. yesterday, the nikkei actually rose for a third straight session, ending at its highest level in six weeks. now, at the last policy meeting in january, the b oj, with switzerland and sweden and denmark, this has proven to be a bit of a hard nut to crack for boj policy makers. after the decision in january, share prices of banks fell, and many were afraid banks would suffer most from negative rates. data shows lending didn't increase as much as the b oshs j had hoped for. now, meanwhile, many investors expect the federal reserve to consider raising rates this year. there are signs of im

so that's a big focus here. >> absolutely, ramin. as you know, dollar commodity they've had a pretty volatile start to the year. get us updated. what can you tell us. >> you're talking about crude oil, w.t.i., which is based in dollars, a lot of other industrial metals. but right now, we may see modest movements, u.s. markets closed for good friday, and then euro, let's look at the asian markets opened as well. seoul's kospi trading in the positive. australia is closed for a holiday. china will open in an hour and a half. still, as energy related shares, investors still managing to find value in high dividend stocks or stocks that will enjoy stable earnings and be able to provide dividend payments. monday will be the last days that in investors may qualify. we may see retail investors charging in there. other than the good friday holiday in the u.s., we may see some domestic interest driving markets today and on monday. but i'll have another update in a few hours. for now, back to you. >> all right, ramin, thank you. from the tokyo s

for that, woo el go to ramin mellegard. he joins us from the tokyo stock exchange. >> good morning, ai. economic indicators leaving investors with slightly mixed signals here. as consumer spending closely watched figure by the federal reserve, and actually we had that edging up slightly in february. but then the january one was actually revised lower. now, let's have a look at how the nikkei and topix are opening up here. march 29th. 17,000, dipped below the 17,000 level temporarily. but the nikkei and topix are trading lower. now, the nikkei end higher on monday. most investors most likely sidelined ahead of the key u.s. jobs data. let's not forget the sentiment survey here in japan, otherwise known as the tancan. that survey is large and small manufacturers, as well as the nonmanufacturers to gauge the state of japan's economy. a lot for investors to take in this week. and all of it piling up on friday. now, we may also see lower volume in domestic issues here. most of the shares have gone ex-dividend as of today, meaning

nikkei close d lower a fourth dy in a row. >> ramin, let me jump in there. some are worried about a currency war. get us updated on some of the key levels. >> as you were touching on there earlier on, some concerns there about the currency levels. the dollar/yen rebounding somewhat this morning. atlanta fed president dennis lockhart said there was sufficient momentum in the u.s. economy to justify a rate hike. as early as april. dollar/yen 112.16. that led to the dollar higher against major peers. late last week the dollar had in fact traded at the 110 yen levels at one point. analysts suggest after the central bank meetings last week, with the fed and the bank of japan, a little bit of a tug-of-war going on there between the divergent policy measures there. investors still wary, a little bit concerned about the global growth prospects, and also inflation targets. that's really kept investors from making any major outright moves. as you mentioned, ai, the chinese yuan focused there, fell a touch on monday against the dollar. on friday, the chinese currency t

ramin joins us from the stock exchange. what can you tell us. >> good morning to you. a lot of investors focusing on the next big thing. u.s. jobs data and keym manufacturing data. let's have a look at how the nikkei are kicking off, thursday, march 31st. back up the 17,000 level. yesterday, major markets in europe rallied after yellen ace comments, but the nikkei wasn't able to join the party. but we're above it now. up 119 points. investors sold the dollar after yellen's speech, by the yen and we may see a little turn around today. that said, the weaker dollar also boosted or provided some support to industrial commodity prices. we did see crude briefly $40 a barrel, and wti futures went above $39. u.s. government data shows built up last week, less than market forecast. now, as i said earlier, the next big tests will not only be economic data out of the u.s. and china, but also, the earnings season will be kicking off as of april. and of course, as we've been talking about this deal with sharp and hon hai precision industries as you were just covering as well, i'll

ramin: i'm talking about large multinationals.uropean and central banks from aman and turkey have started doing business with iran. banking roots are gradually opening. correctly,ioned swift is working but iranian banks the do have correspondence with foreign banks before they can interact. just a few weeks ago, i can tell you these relationships are gradually opening up, starting from the smallest was banks and italian banks and hopefully later on with larger banks. hans: you answered the question i had, that was what is the timeline? d.c. all the sort of settling itself out by 2016? at what point does the foreign capital flow in as freely as it would into any other emerging market? ramin: i think the flow has already started. our fund is a regulated fund that invests in iran. we are largest foreign investor on the tehran stock market. normalizen markets to , which means you pick up from your local bank and send money back and forth, my expectation is that it probably takes between 6-12 months for that to happen. guy: do you expe

we're going to go to ramin. what are you seeing over there? >> thank you very much. as far as currencies, i'll come to those in a second. let's look at how the nikkei and t topi topics. 16,087. we're below the 17,000. the fed indicated gradual rate hikes, but export shares on a stronger yen. speaking of that let's have a look now at currency level. 111.40. the lowest in 16 months. now the dollar falls since the fed policy wrapped up. that's going to hurt major japanese exporters. however, the weaker dollar may be good news for u.s. companies. the indexes on wall street rose overnight, as you can see, the dow jones industrial average closing up futures went above $40 a barrel in more than three months. however, oil price pluck fluctuation, and emerging economies, still, worrying not only for the fed, but also for the bank of japan, as it tries to achieve its goal or target of 2% inflation. >> tell us about the currencies of some of these emerging economies. it looks like they're gaining ground after the fed statement. >> exactly. we have seen some of those currencies

nasdaq five days of ramin joins us. >> good morning. well, actually energy stocks in the u.s. were some of the worst performers, so i'll keep track of oil and gas field developers and some of the trading companies. but actually, one area which may actually help has been the dollar, holding pretty firm so far, we'll come to those levels in a second. let's see how the nikkei and topics is below the 17,000 level. and just a reminder, actually, the the average at 0.34%, closed on wednesday, over the terror attacks in brussels. hit the lowest level for this year, and so now, we're below that 17,000 level again. oil prices had a bit of a sharp pull back affidavit at that showed u.s. stockpile record high for six weeks. w.t.i. was down more than 3%. brent, the international crude benchmark was down 3%. both of hovering around that $40 a barrel level. now, analysts suggest that because the remains hold for earlier rate hikes in the u.s., given the economic indicators, and also the selloff in the year have been quelled somewhat, central banks are trying to move to ease the concerns, ho

we're going to ramin. good morning, what are you seeing over there? >> thank you very much. as you were just touching on the u.s. federal reserve there, after some of the hawkish comments from fed officials it seems janet yellen herself has made it pretty clear they would rather err on the side of caution, and an early rate hike is not necessarily in the cards. but let's have a look how tokyo's stocks are moving this wednesday, march 30th. both indexes in the negative. probably a function of the weaker dollar or stronger yen, and the dollar actually fell against major currencies after the more cautious tone set by yellen, as she warned about unfavorable market conditions and also, the expected weaker growth overseas. let's have in fact a look at some of the currency levels here as tokyo stocks. 112.53. snapped seven days of gains. it's gone from 111 yen level, up to 113, but backed off as you can see. the dollar fell sharply against the euro. jobs report the next guide for the greenback. as we approach the end of fiscal year here in january, on the 31 big focus will be on co