| Japan to avoid JGB auctions on BOJ policy days
TOKYO, March 27 (Reuters) - Japan's Ministry of Finance has begun scheduling Japanese government bond auctions so that they do not coincide with Bank of Japan policy announcements, in line with requests from investors, the ministry said on Tuesday. To avoid market volatility, offers for JGBs with coupons, financing bills, treasury bills and special debt will not be held on days that the BOJ is slated to announce policy decisions, starting with the June line-up of auctions released on Tuesday. "Markets can become volatile when the BOJ makes policy announcements due to a wide range of news and information that comes out," Naoyuki Yoshino, head of the MOF's regular forum with JGB investors, told reporters following a meeting on Tuesday. "It would be best to avoid holding auctions at such times." The MOF's last 30-year JGB auction was held on the final day of the BOJ's two-day policy meeting in January, when the central bank surprised many in the market by keeping rates steady at 0.25 percent.
Agents defy auction law
REAL estate agents are selling properties at auction across Melbourne far above advertised prices despite state laws designed to stamp out the practice. A survey by The Age of 95 auctions last weekend found that more than 80 per cent went under the hammer at least 10 per cent and in some cases more than 40 per cent higher than the prices quoted by agents. Leading agents have cited a strong, rising property market to explain why it is hard to pick prices accurately. But the data compiled by The Age shows that the problem is endemic, with agents under-estimating final auction prices by an average of more than 20 per cent last weekend. Among the most dramatic examples last weekend was a two-bedroom house in Niddrie that sold for $395,000 46 per cent more than its quoted price of $270,000-plus.
Bidding barrage spurs market highs
THE sharemarket surged to new highs yesterday thanks to corporate activity, generally strong prices for commodities and belief that the United States economy is in reasonable shape. Austock senior client adviser Michael Heffernan said takeover activity involving retailer Coles, construction materials firm Rinker Group, Qantas Airways and various mining companies was firing the local market. "There's a fair bit of excitement about the place now you've got the Coles business going on there's a bit of infectiousness going on there," Mr Heffernan said. "When you couple that with resources stocks galloping along, that's the ingredients for a market starting to catch on fire." Recent strong jobs data in the US had also alleviated some concerns that the US economy was going into recession.
Strange, Green Earn Hall of Fame Bids
West Palm Beach, FL (AHN) - Curtis Strange and Hubert Green are among the inductees that will be honored at the 2007 World Golf Hall of Fame. The induction ceremony will take place Nov. 12 at the World Golf Village. "The 2007 induction ceremony will provide an appropriate opportunity to shine the light on the careers of these two successful players," said Jack Peter, senior VP and COO of the Hall of Fame, according to Golf World. Strange captured 17 PGA Tour victories, including consecutive U.S. Open titles in 1988-89. The 52-year-old was listed on 70 percent of the voters' ballots. Green, 60, claimed 19 tour titles, including the 1977 U.S. Open and 1985 PGA Championship. He's also won four Champions Tour events and continued playing following bouts of tongue and throat cancer in 2003.
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