VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Global stock markets had a mixed start to the week on Monday and core bond yields fell as investors juggled Chinese steps to stimulate its slowing economy and a proposed telecoms deal in Europe with growing worries Greece may default.

Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Sunday that financial markets "could be surprised" if the central bank hits its 2-percent inflation target in 2016 and interest rates in Japan start to rise as a result.

The United States on Friday pressed the world's leading exporters, including Germany and Japan, to generate more economic growth within their borders, warning that the world could not rely too much on U.S. consumers.

The Japanese unit of McDonald's Corp (MCD.N) forecast deeper losses this year and said it would renovate 2,000 stores while closing underperforming outlets, as it struggles to bring back customers after a series of food safety scandals.

Japanese and U.S. officials will meet from Wednesday in a bid to strike a two-way deal giving momentum to a pan-Pacific free-trade pact, the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), ahead of a leaders' summit late this month.

The yen is fairly valued around current levels, a key economic adviser to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday, a day after comments he made were taken to mean the yen was too weak.

Saudi Arabia has reduced contractual crude supplies to some customers in Japan and South Korea since March by trimming the volumes of oil loaded, six industry sources familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Net foreign purchases of Philippine shares jumped to $1.1 billion in January-to-March, the highest for any quarter in almost three years and more than twice the net volume of funds flowing into Southeast Asia's biggest economy Indonesia.

The World Bank cut its 2015 growth forecasts for developing East Asia and China, and warned of "significant" risks from global uncertainties including the potential impact from a strengthening dollar and higher U.S. interest rates.

Nippon Life Insurance Co [NPNLI.UL] is looking for acquisition targets both in developed and emerging markets, including asset managers in the United States, as the domestic-focused insurer seeks to diversify sources of income.

Asian stocks rose on Thursday, extending the previous session's gains, while the dollar drew support from minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting showing the U.S. central bank was still on course to hike interest rates this year.

The dollar took a step back on Wednesday but retained a bulk of its overnight gains after currency bulls scooped up the greenback following the tumble induced by weak U.S. non-farm payrolls late last week.

Hirotoshi Ogura, a self-described “factory geek”, is Daikin Industries' (6367.T) master of doing more with less – and part of the reason Japan’s recovery remains stuck in the slow lane.

Japan remains cautious about signing up to the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), indicating that Tokyo will miss the March 31 deadline for application, but both Taiwan and Norway said they would seek to join the institution.

Global green energy investment surged in 2014, after two years of decline, due to a solar boom in China and Japan and record offshore wind investment in Europe, a U.N.-backed report showed.