VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Mar. 12 - Global shares were flat on Friday but within sight of a record high while oil edged lower as benchmark debt yields climbed, helping to curb the latest stimulus-driven rally.

Gains in Asian stock markets proved tough to match for most of European peers, after they hit a 1-year high in the prior session. U.S. stock futures also suggested a lower start for Wall Street later in the day.

The note of caution followed the signing of a $1.9 trillion U.S. stimulus bill into law on Thursday and a further dovish tilt from the European Central Bank that had prompted a retreat in bond yields and eased global concerns about rising inflation.

The burst of market optimism from those events had helped Asian shares rise - Japan’s Nikkei added 1.7% - but this faded out as Europe opened for business, with Britain’s FTSE 100 and the STOXX Europe 600 down around 0.5%.

That in turn weighed on the MSCI World Index, taking it into the red, down 0.1%, albeit less than 1.5% away from the record high hit last month.

Biden had signed the stimulus legislation ahead of a televised address in which he pledged aggressive action to speed vaccinations and move the country closer to normality by July 4.

The signing of the American Rescue Plan provided a further boost to market sentiment after the European Central Bank said it was ready to accelerate money-printing to keep a lid on borrowing costs, using its 1.85 trillion euro Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program more generously over the coming months to stop any unwarranted rise in debt financing costs.

Against that backdrop of super-loose monetary policy, analysts largely expect inflation to pick up as vaccine rollouts lead to a reopening, leading to worries that Biden’s stimulus package could overheat the economy.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields rose again on Friday, back above 1.6% and on track to rise for the seventh straight week.

In currency markets, the dollar gained 0.56% against the yen and 0.4% against the euro and pound, although the latter was helped by news the economy had contracted less than expected in January.

The dollar index, meanwhile, which tracks the U.S. currency against a basket of six major rivals, rose 0.4%.

Markets will likely remain volatile in the second quarter, particularly for the dollar, which was much stronger than expectations at the start of the year, said Cliff Zhao, chief strategist at China Construction Bank International.

“So I think the strong U.S. dollar may weigh on some liquidity conditions in the emerging markets,” he added.

Oil prices retreated from sharp gains as the dollar firmed, with U.S. crude dipping 0.3% to $65.8 a barrel. Brent crude lost 0.1% to $69.54 per barrel.

Spot gold prices fell 0.8% to $1,707.7 an ounce. (Reuters)

Mar. 12 - Malaysia’s government on Friday defended a new law aimed at tackling rampant fake news related to COVID-19 and an ongoing state of emergency, as critics warned it could be used to silence dissent and curtail free speech.

The emergency ordinance, which took effect on Friday, will make it an offence to publish or reproduce any “wholly or partly false” content related to the pandemic or the emergency declaration, prescribing hefty fines and jail terms of up to six years.

Emergency laws do not need parliamentary approval.

Communications Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said the ordinance would help expedite enforcement, investigation and prosecution by authorities, who would otherwise be hampered by old laws that are ill equipped to deal with the rapid expansion of social media.

“Our interest is in fighting COVID-19 and we will do whatever it takes ... we take cognisance of the fact that we have to be fair, we have to be just in carrying out our duties,” Saifuddin told a news conference.

But opposition lawmakers and civil society groups said the new law was too sweeping and could be used to instill fear among the public about criticising the government.

Earlier on Friday, the prime minister’s department on Twitter posted a government circular prohibiting civil servants from making negative public statements, or sharing or distributing any content deemed detrimental to government policies or its image.

In January, parliament was suspended after King Al-Sultan Abdullah declared a state of emergency to curb the spread of COVID-19, a move that the opposition decried as an attempt by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to retain control amid a power struggle.

Malaysia has reported 320,939 COVID-19 infections as of Friday, with 1,203 deaths, the third highest caseload in the region behind Indonesia and the Philippines. (Reuters)

Mar. 12 - Hong Kong recorded 60 coronavirus cases on Friday, the city’s government said, as it scrambled to contain transmissions mainly amongst its expatriate community after a cluster at a gym spilled into the financial sector and international schools.

Hong Kong’s health department told a briefing that around 47 cases were related to the outbreak at Ursus Fitness, a gym in the city’s trendy Sai Ying Pun district, which is popular with expatriate lawyers, bankers and hedge fund executives.

Over 240 people were sent to government quarantine due to the gym cluster, authorities said on Thursday. Many of the clients did not wear masks during their workout, they said.

A whole class of primary school students aged around 9 years old at Kellett school, a prestigious British school, were also sent to quarantine, after confirmed cases were found.

One parent will be allowed to accompany them for the 14-day period, the school said.

At least nine schools have temporarily closed as a precautionary measure, schools and teachers said on Thursday. Schools had in recent weeks begun to resume face to face teaching after conducting only online classes since November last year.

Prior to the gym outbreak, daily cases in Hong Kong had fallen to low double digit and single digit levels.

“I don’t want to say this is the beginning of the fifth wave,” Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan, from the city’s health department, told a press briefing. She added that she hoped the outbreak could be controlled soon.

Gym goers are now required to wear masks during their workout while fitness centre staff must get a COVID-19 test every 14 days, the government said on Friday.

Hong Kong has recorded around 11,000 total coronavirus cases, far lower than other developed cities. The city of 7.5 million people launched its vaccination programme in February but only 145,800 people have received their first shot so far. (Reuters)

Mar. 12 - Turkey plans to host Afghanistan peace talks in Istanbul in April, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Friday, and Ankara will appoint an Afghanistan special envoy.

Cavusoglu’s comments come after the United States shared a draft peace plan calling for replacing Afghanistan’s government with a power-sharing interim administration pending elections under a new constitution.

The U.S. proposal is intended to jump-start stalled talks in Doha between the Taliban and a team including Afghan officials on a political settlement to decades of conflict.

Cavusoglu said Turkey had previously been asked by Afghan officials, the Taliban and the negotiation team to host talks, and this week’s decision came after a U.S. proposal for Turkey to host a meeting.

“This is not a meeting that is an alternative to the Qatar process, it is a complement to that,” state-owned Anadolu news agency quoted Cavusoglu as saying. We will carry this out in coordination with brotherly Qatar, but it will be in Turkey.”

He said the aim was for talks between the Taliban and the government to continue in a “goal-oriented” way. The exact date in April, and the content of the talks, were being discussed.

Cavusoglu also said Turkey had been sending messages to the Taliban and the negotiating team, calling for violence in the country to stop for talks to yield results.

The Taliban and the Afghan government have been negotiating in Qatar to reach a peace deal. Those talks resumed in January after an almost month-long break, but negotiators and diplomats say there has been little progress since then.

Russia also plans to hold a conference on Afghanistan in Moscow later this month, the TASS news agency said on Tuesday. (Reuters)