in theapore, and 9:00 in evening on the eastern seaboard of the united states.shaad salamat coming to you from bloomberg's asian headquarters right here in hong kong. this is "bloomberg markets." ♪ more signs of stability in china, the latest reading the highest in four years of the services sector. the rise of the rooster bringing a cash crunch in china, bracing for the lunar new year. the majority of now banned rupee notes seen as a blow for the anticorruption campaign. bounce on wall street, setting the tone in the asia-pacific. fixingo digest, the yuan showing strength there. reading the highest in four years. here is sophie kamaruddin. sophie: asian markets extending wednesday's gain, this after the fed struck a dovish tone and its latest meeting minutes. take a look at what is going on with equity markets, the kospi heading lower, the hang seng adding 1%

theapore's unemployment highest in eight years, but still one of the easiest places in the world to findle in singapore have it easier than elsewhere. haslinda: it has a tight labor market. we talked about how unemployment is at an eight year high, but it is just 2%, very low. it has to do with the government putting a lid on government and immigration. singaporeans were saying foreigners were taking jobs, pushing up property prices, causing congestion and public trains. they put restrictions on foreign workers, so here we are with a tight labor market, companies struggling to fill positions, especially the services sector. i want to show you this bart chart. singaporeans can find a job and just eight weeks. those in other developed markets need 16 weeks. atost all those who retired age 62 were also rehired, so older workers are also finding jobs. here is another chart, singapore and hong kong have the lowest long-term unemployment rate. there is still a problem. singaporean workers have been left behind by technology. if they don't upgrade their skills, they will be left behind. this is