Gold Prices Fall Amid Rate Jitters; Copper Steady as China Stimulus Eyed 
The South Korean bonds closed flat Wednesday as investors await up-coming monetary policy decision due on Friday. The 10-year bonds yield, which is inversely propositional to bond price stood unchanged at 1.767 pct and 3-year bonds yield remained steady at 1.419 pct.
The Bank of Korea's monetary policy committee meets on May 13th to set the 7-day policy interest rate, which has been left unchanged at record-low 1.5 pct after seven rounds of reduction until June last year. We expect the BOK to cut this time, after holding its benchmark at a record low 1.5 pct for 9-months. This is supported by the recent reading of poor economic data- the April exports declined 11.2 pct y/y, against market expectation of 11 pct y/y fall, from down 8.1 pct in March. Similarly, the South Korea's industrial production tumbled 2.2 pct m/m in March, against expectation of 0.1 pct m/m rise, from up 3.2 pct in February. On annual basis, it declined 1.5 pct in March; investors were waiting for a rise of 0.8 pct, as compared to prior 2.2 pct.
In addition, the South Korea’s headline inflation for April stood at 1 pct y/y, in line with market expectation, as compared to 1 pct in March, mirroring the impacts of weak worldwide oil costs, and darkening the economy's progressing unassuming recuperation. Similarly, it rose 0.1 pct m/m, from a drop of 0.3 pct in March, which boosted investors sentiments for further BoK easing.
Meanwhile, The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed down 0.12 pct at 1,980.10 points.
