Global

· G20 Must Focus On Productivity, Competitiveness To Boost Growth: OECD. The world's 20 biggest economies must focus on higher labor productivity and become more competitive and innovative if they want to deliver on a pledge to boost economic growth, the OECD said on Monday ahead of a G20 meeting. Leaders of the world's top 20 economies (G20) agreed last year to launch new measures to raise their collective gross domestic product growth by an additional 2 percentage points over the next five years above the level projected in 2013. The pledge, called the Brisbane Action Plan, entails about 1,000 commitments. G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Istanbul on Monday and Tuesday will discuss ways to prioritize and implement them. (Reuters)

Malaysia

· Malaysian Rates Fall as Bank Funding Rules Ease Squeeze. Malaysia’s short-term interest rates fell the most since 2009 on Monday after the central bank developed rules governing the way local banks should account for certain deposits and other items on their balance sheets. Deposits that are subject to an early-withdrawal penalty of at least 50% of accrued interest can be treated as “qualifying term funding,” or money that can be lent out, with effect from June 1, according to a central bank circular dated Jan. 30 and obtained by Bloomberg News. Unrestricted investment accounts, which hold assets such as securities and exchange-traded commodities, will be subject to a 10% run-off rate from the same date, the circular showed. The run-off rate is the accounting treatment banks use to reflect the risk that the holders withdraw their funds. (Bloomberg)

 Asia

· Japan Current Account Surplus Shrinks To Smallest In 2014. Japan's current account surplus shrank for a fourth straight year to its smallest on record in 2014 in a worrying sign a bulging trade deficit is hurting the balance of payment, complicating Tokyo's efforts to rein in a massive public debt. In 2014, Japan's current account surplus fell 18.8% to 2.6266 trillion yen ($22.10b), shrinking for a fourth straight year, reflecting bulging trade deficits, Ministry of Finance data showed on Monday. This was the smallest surplus in comparable data available from 1985. (Reuters)

· South Korea Says To Continue With Easy Monetary, Fiscal Policy. South Korea's easy monetary and fiscal policy stance will likely continue this year while the country pushes ahead with structural reforms to ensure long-term growth, its finance minister told Reuters on Monday. The government of President Park Geun-hye has identified labor, education and the financial and public sectors as the main areas to reform so that Asia's fourth-largest economy can avoid slipping into a protracted period of low growth. (Reuters)

· India Growth Figures Baffle Economists. The Indian economy grew by 7.5% between October and December compared with the same period a year earlier, official figures say. But there was confusion regarding the statistics after the way in which the gross domestic product (GDP) figure was calculated was changed. Economists warned the figures needed to be treated with caution. Growth for the previous three months was also revised up sharply to 8.2% from an earlier figure of 5.3%. And India's statistics ministry revised up its forecast for annual economic growth to 7.4% for the year to the end of March. That compared with a previous forecast of 6.9% using the new formula, and 4.7% before the revised formula was introduced. (BBC)

· Indonesia December Retail Sales Growth Slows to 4.3%. Indonesia's annual retail sales in December grew at a much slower pace of 4.3% due to weak sales of household utensils, cultural and recreational goods as well as spare parts and accessories, a Bank Indonesia survey showed on Monday. December's retail sales were slower than November's 11.4% growth, which was revised from an initial 14.1%. The survey of 650 retailers in 10 major cities showed that retail sales on a yearly basis were expected to ease in the next three months due to slowing demand in Southeast Asia's largest economy. (Reuters)

· Thai Jobs Slump in January as Economy Sputters, Farm Jobs Hit. Thailand's employment shrank by 430,000 in January from a year earlier, mainly in agriculture and retail businesses, suggesting the economy is still struggling to gain traction after the army took power in May to end months of political unrest. Employment slipped to 37.36 million last month from 37.79 million in January 2014, when political tensions flared up, the National Statistical Office's labour force survey showed. It was a sharp slide from 38.66 million jobs in December, although economists said that was due mainly to seasonal factors. (Reuters)

USA

· U.S. Productivity Trends To Put Speed Limit On Growth: Fed Paper. The recent sluggishness in U.S. productivity began well before the recession and will likely place a speed limit on future U.S. economic growth, a paper published Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco said. A surge in productivity by American workers from 1995 to 2003 was followed by a marked deceleration, the research paper said, settling recently at around 1.5% a year. This more lethargic pattern could translate to annual gross domestic product growth of 2.1%, wrote San Francisco Fed senior research advisor John Fernald and research associate Bing Wang. That's well under historic norms for the United States. (Reuters)

Europe

· Germany Clocks Up Record Exports, Trade Surplus In 2014. Germany, Europe's biggest economy, clocked up a record volume of exports and attained its largest ever trade surplus in 2014, data compiled by the federal statistics office Destatis showed on Monday. Germany exported a record 1.134 trillion euros ($1.28 trillion) worth of goods last year and imported goods worth 916.5b euros. That pushed the trade surplus -- the balance between imports and exports -- to an annual total of 217b euros, Destatis calculated in a statement. In December alone, Germany exported goods worth a total of 98.7b euros in seasonally adjusted terms, an increase of 3.4% from November, Destatis said. Imports, on the other hand, fell by 0.8% to 76.9b euros. That meant the seasonally adjusted trade surplus expanded to 21.8b euros in December from 17.9b euros in November. (AFP)

· Greek Industrial Output Falls 3.8% Year-On-Year In December. Greek industrial output fell 3.8% year-on-year in December after an upwardly revised 2.5% rise in November, statistics service ELSTAT said on Monday. The drop was mainly due to a 13.2% fall in mining output while electricity production declined 18.6%. Manufacturing production rose 2.1% from a year earlier. December's fall follows a rise in November which had paused an eight-month stretch of declines since February last year, based on revised data that sets 2010 as the base year. For 2014 as a whole industrial output shrank 2.7% year-on-year. (Reuters)

· Euro Zone Sentiment Improves Sharply In February On ECB Bond-Buying. Sentiment in the euro zone improved strongly in February for the fourth straight month as investors were heartened by the European Central Bank's bond-buying program announcement which pushed up the expectations component to a nine-year high. The Sentix research group's index tracking moral among investors and analysts in the euro zone rose to +12.4 in February from +0.9 in the previous month, above a consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of +3.0. A sub-index of expectations for the next six months improved even more dramatically, jumping to +27.5 points in February, a nine-year high, from +13.5 in January. (Reuters)

· Signs Of Economic Pick-Up In Euro Zone: OECD. Economic growth prospects have improved in key areas of the euro zone, the OECD's latest leading indicator publication said on Monday. The leading indicator, designed to detect turning points in major economies, signaled stable growth in most big economies and signs of a pick-up within the euro zone in Germany, Italy and Spain, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said. Versus a long-term average of 100, the aggregate euro zone reading in the latest monthly survey remained at 100.6. Among component economies, the reading turned up again in Germany after several months of decline, coming in at 99.7 versus 99.6 the previous month. Italy's reading rose to 101.0 from 100.9. (Reuters)

Currencies

· Commodity Currencies Recoup Ground As US Dollar Rally Fades. Commodity currencies held onto modest gains early on Tuesday, having risen broadly on a further rebound in oil prices and as the U.S. dollar faded somewhat after a payrollsinspired rally ran out of steam. The Canadian and New Zealand dollars were among the best performers in a session that saw all the major currencies remain well within recent ranges. The greenback eased to C$1.2428 from a session high of C$1.2545. The kiwi popped above 74 U.S. cents from $0.7325, staying in a $0.7288-0.7453 range seen in the last few days. The Euro bounced back to $1.1326, having found support at a one-week trough of $1.1270 on Monday. Against the yen, the common currency fell as far as 133.67 before recovering to 134.31. The dollar eased to 118.54, giving back about a third of Friday's 1.4% rally to 119.23. All that left the dollar index a tad softer at 94.568. Still, it remained not far from an 11-year peak of 95.481 scaled last month. (Reuters)

Commodities

· Oil Rallies For Third Day After OPEC Sees Greater Crude Demand. Oil jumped for a third straight session on Monday as OPEC forecast greater demand for crude this year than previously thought and projected less supply from countries outside the producer group. Benchmark Brent oil futures settled up 54 cents, or nearly 1%, at $58.34 a barrel, after rallying to $59.61 at one point. U.S. crude futures finished up $1.17, or 2.3%, at $52.86 after a session high at $53.99. (Reuters)

· Gold Gains As Shares Weaken, Still Near Three-Week Low. Gold edged up from the previous session's three-week low on Monday, as European equities were hurt by soft Chinese trade data and worries about Greece. Spot gold gained 0.7% to $1,241.43 an ounce by 2:46 p.m. EST (1946 GMT). Spot silver was up 2% at $17.02 an ounce. Palladium was down 0.7% at $776.50 an ounce, while platinum fell 0.4% to $1,214.95 an ounce. (Reuters)