BOJ to wait 'a few months' to see effect of stimulus: Kuroda
The Bank of Japan needs to wait a few more months to see the impact of its stimulus measures on the economy, its governor said in an interview published on Wednesday, adding that the bank could ease policy further if needed.
Haruhiko Kuroda's comments may signal that no more policy easing is likely soon by the Bank of Japan, which has tried to revive the world's third-largest economy with increasingly aggressive measures for three straight years.
"We have to wait a few months to see the effects in the real economy," Kuroda told German daily Boersen Zeitung.
EM ASIA FX-Dollar's retreat helps cautious Asia FX gains; ringgit leads
Most emerging Asian currencies firmed slightly on Thursday as the dollar lost some momentum, but worries about slowing global growth limited their upside.
Malaysia's ringgit led regional appreciation on overnight jumps in crude prices and stronger-than-expected output data Investors had little confidence about further gains in emerging Asian currencies, with regional stock markets under pressure from a lack of signs of a global economic recovery.
"Concerns over dire global growth, led by China, prevented markets from aggressively adding bullish bets on Asia FX," said Jeong My-young, Samsung Futures' research head in Seoul.
"In addition, the recent RBA's rate cut boosted expectations of similar moves in other countries including South Korea," Jeong said, referring to the Reserve Bank of Australia.
Oil Prices Reverse Gains But Uptrend Intact
Oil prices lost traction in early Asian trade Thursday on profit-taking after a sharp rise overnight, driven by the unexpected drop in U.S. crude stockpiles and continuing supply outages in Canada and Africa.
On the New York Mercantile Exchange, light, sweet crude futures for delivery in June traded at $45.96 a barrel at 0159 GMT, down $0.27 in the Globex electronic session. July Brent crude on London's ICE Futures exchange fell $0.33 to $47.27 a barrel.
"Prices have broken the resistance and will need further outages to push prices higher," said Stuart Ive, a client manager at OM Financial.
Tehran cuts crude price amid Riyadh’s surge push
According to the Reuters report citing ‘an industry source with direct knowledge of the matter,’ Iran has set its June official selling prices (OSPs) for heavier crude grades it sells in Asia at the biggest discounts to Saudi and Iraqi oil since 2007-2008.
Iran on Tuesday set the June OSP for Iranian heavy crude at $1.60 a barrel below the Oman/Dubai average, up $1 from the previous month, the source said.
This still puts Iranian heavy at 30 cents a barrel below Saudi's Arab Medium grade, the biggest discount between the two crudes since 2007, the report added.
This is while it said Saudi Arabia raised its June OSPs for all grades to several-month highs over claims of a rise in demand for the Saudi crude..
The Reuters report also noted that Tehran typically adjusts its crude price formulas to Asia at the beginning of each quarter following negotiations with its clients. However, this year it has changed at least some of its crude pricing formulas in March, April and June.
The changes helped boost its exports to Asia by 50 percent in March from a year ago.
Reference: Press TV, NASDAQ, Reuters
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