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(1) Marcel Thieliant, Head of Asia-Pacific at Capital Economics, stated in a report that the Bank of Japan may raise its policy rate in April, citing rising energy prices. He pointed out that financial markets see little chance of a rate hike at next week's meeting, so he expects the central bank will not take action in March. (2) Thieliant analyzed that although the recent surge in crude oil prices will not push inflation to a level intolerable for the Bank of Japan, the strength of underlying inflation appears to be better than the central bank expected. He expects the central bank to raise its policy rate to 1.0% in April, rather than in June. (3) He further predicts that by the end of 2027, the Bank of Japan's policy rate will reach 1.75%, higher than the market's average expectation.

Golden Ten Data reported on March 12 that the South Korean stock market has experienced intense fluctuations recently, to the extent that expectations for future volatility have also diminished. The implied volatility of the Korea KOSPI 200 index, which reflects option prices, surged as the market sold off, but currently appears relatively low compared to recent actual volatility levels. In fact, the difference between implied volatility and actual volatility has dropped to its lowest level since August 2024, indicating that the cost of hedging against future turbulence seems inexpensive. Jun Gyun, a derivatives analyst at Samsung Securities, stated: "In the KOSPI 200 index options market, participants seem to be pricing in the view that, apart from the global negative events already reflected in the first quarter, there are no major risk factors in the second quarter. The market expects the volatility environment in the second quarter to stabilize."

BlockBeats News, March 12, the main development branch of the Bitcoin client Bitcoin Core has merged the Cluster Mempool update (PR #34616), expected to be included in a future Bitcoin Core version 31.0. This upgrade will redesign the way nodes manage the mempool, processing related transactions in groups to improve block packing efficiency and optimize fee calculation for RBF and CPFP transactions. Bitcoin Core 31.0 is expected to be released in the second half of 2026. (CriptoNoticias)