By Kartik Goyal and Tushar Dhara – Jun 14, 2012

(Bloomberg)

Reserve Bank Of India Governor Duvvuri Subbarao

Indian inflation quickened more than estimated in May as food and fuel prices surged, an acceleration that may fail to prevent an interest-rate cut next week to shore up slowing growth.

The benchmark wholesale-price index rose 7.55 percent from a year earlier, after climbing 7.23 percent in April, the commerce ministry said in New Delhi today. The median of 37 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey was 7.5 percent. A separate report showed a decline in Indian exports and imports last month.

Indian economic expansion weakened to a near-decade low last quarter, hurt by faltering efforts to open up the economy, a moderation in investment and the impact of Europe’s debt crisis on overseas sales. The slowdown has added pressure on the Reserve Bank of India to reduce borrowing costs at its June 18 policy meeting, even as the nation struggles with the fastest inflation among the biggest emerging markets.

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By Saeromi Shin – Jun 14, 2012

(Bloomberg)

South Korea’s National Pension Service plans to spend 6.6 trillion won ($5.7 billion) buying more of the nation’s stocks next year, signaling its support for equities amid Europe’s worsening debt crisis.

The nation’s biggest investor will increase the weighting of domestic stocks in its holdings to 20 percent of assets in 2013, the Ministry of Health and Welfare, which oversees the fund, said in an e-mailed statement today. That compares with its 2012 target of 19.3 percent. The fund aims to pare its domestic bond weighting to 56.1 percent of assets in 2013, less than the 59.3 percent it targeted for this year.

The pension fund, which had about $300 billion of assets at the end of March, is boosting investments in equities even as investors favored less risky assets at a time of increasing concerns over Europe and the strength of the global economy. An index of South Korean government bondscompiled by HSBC Holdings Plc returned 2.59 percent this year through yesterday, outpacing a 1.8 percent gain in the benchmark Kospi index of stocks.

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By Takahiko Hyuga and Shingo Kawamoto – Jun 14, 2012

(Bloomberg)

Former Morgan Stanley Banker Tsutomu Okub0

Japan’s ruling party will consider limiting the period for public stock offerings to four days to curtail share declines and discourage insider trading, said lawmaker and former Morgan Stanley banker Tsutomu Okubo.

A Democratic Party of Japan working group will discuss truncating the period from the announcement of sales to settlement of the deals from the current minimum 15 days, Okubo said in an interview. The panel, which meets for the first time tomorrow, was set up to examine ways to restore confidence in markets rocked by trading and accounting scandals.

Japanese regulators are investigating short selling by investors who used information leaked from underwriters including Nomura Holdings Inc. (8604) before stock offerings were announced. The benchmark Topix Index (TPX) has lost 16 percent since the securities watchdog revealed the first case on March 21.

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