New Zealand/Australia Morning Call-Global markets

-----------------------(07:08 / 1808
GMT)-----------------------
Stock Markets
S&P/ASX 200 5,355.70 +4.60 NZSX 50 3,470.43
+22.93
DJIA 12,282.18 +65.78 Nikkei 12,525.54
-294.93
NASDAQ 2,281.13 +19.95 FTSE 5,702.10
+9.20
S&P 500 1,323.34 +8.12 Hang Seng 23,285.95
-436.75
SPI 200 Fut 5,411.00 +15.00 CRB Index 385.48
-9.06
Bonds
AU 10 YR Bond 93.985 +0.045 US 10 YR Bond 3.400
-0.041
NZ 10 YR Bond 6.455 +0.000 US 30 YR Bond 4.273
-0.032
Currencies (Prev at 7pm NZST)
AUD US$ 0.9125 0.9160 NZD US$ 0.7858
0.7912
EUR US$ 1.5784 1.5784 Yen US$ 99.78
99.70
Commodities
Gold (Lon) 933.50 Silver (Lon) 17.990

Gold (NY) 930.00 Light Crude 100.29

____________________________(April
1)___________________________
Overnight market action. An updated report will be sent after
the close of New York markets.

EQUITIES

NEW YORK - U.S. stocks added to gains on Monday, driving
the Nasdaq up more than 1 percent, as a report showing
stronger-than-expected Midwestern business activity helped the
economic outlook.

Blackberry maker Research In Motion Ltd (RIM.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) led gains
on the Nasdaq.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 87.36
points, or 0.72 percent, at 12,303.76. The Standard & Poor's
500 Index .SPX was up 11.13 points, or 0.85 percent, at
1,326.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 23.00
points, or 1.02 percent, at 2,284.18.

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LONDON - Britain's top share index ticked up on Monday to
end its worst quarterly performance in more than five years, as
gains in oil shares and bid target Friends Provident FP.L
offset losses in Vodafone (VOD.L: Quote, Profile, Research).

The FTSE 100 .FTSE closed up 9.2 points, or 0.16 percent
at 5,702.1, after falling as much as 1.9 percent earlier.

The UK benchmark index has lost 11.7 percent in the first
three months of the year, its worse quarter since the third
quarter of 2002 and its third consecutive quarter of losses.

Index heavyweight Vodafone was the heaviest drag on the
index, down 1.7 percent after Morgan Stanley downgraded the
stock to "underweight" from "overweight" and cut its price
target.

Analysts expected the market would remain quiet in the
run-up to the release of U.S. non-farm payrolls data on Friday.

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TOKYO - Japan's Nikkei benchmark slid 2.3 percent on
Monday, finishing the fiscal year with its worst quarterly
performance since 2001, as investors rushed to take profits and
sold blue-chips such as Toyota Motor Corp 2703.T.

Banks were also hit hard, with Mizuho Financial Group
(8411.T: Quote, Profile, Research) down over 5 percent, after U.S. financial firms fell
on concerns about potential dividend cuts, with investors leery
of buying ahead of a raft of indicators due out this week.

Trading house Marubeni Corp (8002.T: Quote, Profile, Research) plunged 6.6 percent.
U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers LEH.N will file a
lawsuit against Marubeni on Monday saying it was defrauded of
more than $355 million, a source with direct knowledge of the
matter said. [ID:nT254231].

The Nikkei lost 18.2 percent in the January-March quarter,
its worst performance since the second quarter of 2001 when it
tumbled 24.6 percent. It lost 27.6 percent in the full fiscal
year.

The benchmark Nikkei .N225 closed at 12,525.54, down 2.3
percent or 294.93 points, after earlier falling more than 3
percent. The broader TOPIX .TOPX was down 2.5 percent at
1,212.96.

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FOREIGN EXCHANGE

NEW YORK - The euro came close to a record high against the
dollar on Monday as higher-than-forecast euro-zone price data
reinforced expectations that the inflation-focused European
Central Bank will not start cutting rates soon.

Annual euro-zone inflation jumped to 3.5 percent in March,
a record since the inception of the euro according to Reuters
data and out-stripping the 3.3 percent consensus.

The outlook for euro-zone rates contrasts with the United
States where the Federal Reserve is widely expected to continue
to cut the benchmark rate in a bid to stoke economic growth.
Higher rates tend to lure investors and increase demand for a
currency.

The euro rose as high $1.5895 -- just short of record highs
set two weeks ago EUR= -- before retreating to around $1.5802
midway through the New York session. It was a volatile session
in both London and New York, with the single euro zone currency
swinging between gains, losses and trading little changed.

The euro scaled all-time peaks at 79.82 pence EURGBP=,
with sterling depressed by soft housing and service sector
data.

Higher-yielding currencies such as the Australian AUD=
and New Zealand NZD= dollars tracked equity markets,
indicating that nervousness about the health of the global
economy remains at the forefront of investors' minds.

The dollar rose 0.8 percent at 99.91 yen JPY=, while the
euro climbed 0.8 percent to 157.80 yen EURJPY=.

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TREASURIES

NEW YORK - Treasury debt prices rose on Monday, bolstered
by safe-haven buying from investors' persistent worries about
the global banking system.

The need for funding by cash-strapped banks put upward
pressure on short-term borrowing costs as the quarter drew to a
close.

Short-term interbank lending rates on both sides of the
Atlantic climbed on financial institutions' pressing search for
cash. U.S. federal funds traded at 3.0 percent, a wide 75 basis
points above the target rate set by the Federal Reserve.

Overnight dollar-denominated Libor, or London interbank
offered rates, jumped to 3.181 percent at the British Bankers
Association's latest daily fixing, from 2.866 percent on
Friday.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury note's price, which moves
inversely to its yield, traded up 7/32 for a yield of 3.41
percent US10YT=RR, versus 3.44 percent late Friday.

The 2-year Treasury note's price was up 2/32 for a yield of
1.61 percent US2YT=RR, versus 1.65 percent late Friday.

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COMMODITIES

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GOLD

NEW YORK - Weaker crude oil prices dampen gold's appeal as
a hedge against inflation. June gold GCM8 down $10.10 to
$926.40 an ounce at 11:55 a.m. EDT (1555 GMT), trading from
$925.60 to $945.70. COMEX estimated gold volume at 63,678 lots
by 10 a.m. Spot gold XAU= drops to $920.70/921.50, from New
York's Friday late quote of $932.90/933.70. The London
afternoon gold fix was set at $933.50 an ounce.

- - - -

BASE METALS

LONDON - London copper futures ended nearly unchanged on
Monday, after booking their second-biggest quarterly gain ever,
and analysts said prices were likely to remain high despite
worries over the global economy.

Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal
Exchange MCU3 -- seen as a key gauge of real economic
activity -- closed at $8,390 per tonne, $15 down from Friday's
close as investors waited out the end of the quarter.

Steelmaking raw material nickel MNI3 dipped $600 to
$29,900 per tonne after workers at Colombia's Cerro Matoso
ferronickel mine accepted BHP Billiton's (BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research)(BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) offer
to end a four-week strike.

Aluminium MAL3 shed $20 to close at $2,985 per tonne
while zinc MZN3 fell $30 to $2,320 per tonne.Tin MSN3
traded at $20,525/20,550 per tonne versus $20,600 at Friday's
close, while lead MPB3 fell $60 to $2,790.

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OIL

NEW YORK - U.S. crude oil futures slumped more than $4
midday on Monday as traders liquidated positions to take
end-of-the quarter profits, analysts said.

Earlier, prices were up as the dollar weakened, often a
signal for investors to shift money to commodities.

Before that, prices fell in overnight and early trading
after fighting subsided in Iraq's southern oil city of Basra
where a pipeline explosion last week sent prices soaring.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615
GMT), crude for May delivery CLK8 was down $3.10 or 2.94
percent at $102.52 a barrel, trading from $101.59 to $106.78.

In London, May Brent crude LCOK8 fell back as well, and
was down $2.60 or 2.5 percent at $101.17 a barrel, trading from
$100 to $105.32.

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