5:41pm: And we'll leave you tonight with the best and worst performing companies on the ASX 200. We'll try to get these to you more regularly, as requested. For more on what the markets did today, stay tuned for our markets wrap. Thanks for your company and see you tomorrow. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p>What would the <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23RBA">#RBA</a> make of Kuroda's aggressive plan of action to kick-start inflation? Another reason to hold rates</p>&mdash; James Glynn (@JamesGlynnWSJ) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesGlynnWSJ/status/319687051140268033">April 4, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> companies 5:05pm: We're coming to the end of our markets blog for another day, so here's a synopsis of what happened. The share market closed almost one per cent lower, as bourses around the region were sold off on concerns about weak US economic data. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 lost 0.9% The dollar is slightly lower against the greenback, at $US1.0446, but higher against the yen, at 98.58. Spot gold lost another $US24 and now sits at $US1547 an ounce. Wall Street Futures are minimally higher, while London (-17 points) and Europe (-37 points) are both down. Central bank news: The Bank of Japan unveiled fresh easing measures today, sending the yen lower against the dollar, at its first policy meeting under a new leader who's vowing to turn around the country's economy. The BoJ says it will boost its asset purchases, including Japanese government bonds, while pledging to meet a 2% inflation target within two years, aimed at reversing decades of falling prices. Australians continuing to flock to the shops Billabong share halt 'indefinite' Refinery for sale 4:18pm: The dollar has gained more than one yen and is closing in on four-year peaks after the Bank of Japan announced aggressive monetary measures. The Aussie was last at 98.39, from 97.20 before the announcement, showing a gain of 1.1 percent on the news. yen-aud 4:18pm: And some more detail on the big news coming out of Japan: The Bank of Japan has decided on a radical overhaul of its policy framework, shifting its target when setting monetary policy to base money from the current overnight call rate. The central bank said it will double its holdings of long-term government bonds and exchange-traded funds while buying government bonds with all maturities, including 40-year bonds. "The BOJ will conduct money-market operations so that the monetary base will increase at an annual pace of about 60 to 70 trillion yen ($754 billion)," the BOJ said in a statement. The decisions were made by unanimous votes. 3:55pm: If there is one certainty that has come out of the recent Cyprus banking deal, it's that the Mediterranean island's economy is facing dark days ahead. "The outlook for the Cyprus economy is very bad," said Christoph Weil, economist at Commerzbank. "I see no new model for the economy, I would expect Cypriot GDP to shrink in 3 years by more than 10 per cent," he said. "Investors will not come back to Cyprus in the coming years because of the bank experience, I don't now anyone who would give Cypriot banks new money and that will not change in the coming years," he said. Cyprus' neighbours are worried too. Greece fears that the crisis will push it into deeper recession. So can Cyprus find a new model for the economy? As an ABN Amro analyst asks, "Who is going to invest in Cyprus now?" Read more analysis on Cyprus' options here. "Respect Cyprus" ... a Cypriot man holds a sign during a demonstration in Nicosia. 3:55pm: In another case of Australian farmers getting "squeezed" by the big supermarkets, grape farmers say they are being left to wither on the vine by retailers that refuse to pay them a fair price. The Australian Table Grape Association (ATGA) says supermarkets" policy of only buying grapes at low prices from a handful of suppliers is destroying the industry. ""The prices being offered to a lot of growers are far too low and undermine quality,"" ATGA chief executive Jeff Scott said. He said the pressure placed on farmers to sell their grapes at low prices meant many were growing grapes at a loss, which would hurt consumers in the long term. ""At the end of the day, those growers won't be able to sustain themselves and go out of business, which means consumers will have to pay more for imported grapes,"" Mr Scott said. In another case of Australian farmers getting squeezed by the big supermarkets, grape farmers say they are being left to wither on the vine by retailers that refuse to pay them a fair price. 3:43pm: Believe it or not, but the Click Frenzy internet sale - or Click Fail, as it came to be known - will return for 2013. Melbourne businessman Grant Arnott last year launched the sale to try to emulate America's Cyber Monday sales, giving customers a 24-hour window in November to bag an online bargain. But the website crashed early on and left an estimated 1.7 million shoppers unable to log on or struggling with a slow website. ""[Last year] our initial forecast and our promise to advertisers was that we would get around 250,000 to 300,000 customers,"" Mr Arnott said. ""But it just took off at a rate beyond our wildest expectations."" 3:43pm: Virtual currency Bitcoin seems to be the hottest asset around ... for the moment, anyway. As the Financial Times reports, the price of a single Bitcoin has doubled - yes doubled - in less than two weeks. One Bitcoin is now worth $US147, after passing $US100 in April 1. "Trading tulips in real time," declared the veteran UBS stockbroker Art Cashin in a note to clients. It is rare that we get to see a bubble-like phenomenon trade tick for tick, but all that may be changing before our very eyes. And in case you were wondering, Bitcoin only came into existence four years ago. Read more here. 3:25pm: Halifax Investment Services, a provider of "online platforms" which offer clients the ability to trade derivatives, stocks, foreign exchange and options, has been hit with an enforceable undertaking from the corporate regulator. ASIC conducted surveillance checks of Halifax between May and November 2012. It found deficiencies in Halifax's management and compliance regime, including: Inadequate supervision and monitoring of its representatives; deficiencies in its complaints assessment and handling; and inadequate oversight of the training and professional standards of its representatives. ASIC says the company must appoint an independent expert "to review its business and develop a plan to rectify the deficiencies." The expert will then report regularly to ASIC over the next year on Halifax's implementation of the plan. ASIC Deputy Chairman Belinda Gibson said it should send a warning to securities dealers about the importance of having adequate compliance and governance standards. ""It requires Halifax to rethink significantly the way it monitors its representatives and to create a culture where compliance is central to the services it provides,"" Ms Gibson said. Have you ever been a Halifax client? 3:24pm: Looking at today's positive retail data again, ANZ says it is more evidence the RBA is in "wait and see" mode. The data, along with rising consumer confidence and house prices, suggest that household spending is beginning to respond to lower interest rates. "Some of the improvement, however, is likely to reflect a degree of "pent up" consumer demand following weak household spending in the second half of 2012, itself adversely affected by uncertainty about global economic and political developments." The bank says a sustained improvement in business confidence is still needed. We think there is a narrow window for a rate cut, if needed, over the next six months or so. If economic activity indicators continue to print on the strong side then the chances of a rate cut mid year will be diminished. 3:11pm: So what can we take away from Fairfax's new organisational structure? According to columnist Malcolm Maiden, Domain's move to functioning as a separate business division means that its online and print real estate listings and search business will be visible as a separate profit centre for the first time. It's the movement of Domain into the spotlight that might interest Fairfax followers most however. Morgan Stanley estimated in August last year that Fairfax's digital metropolitan media business was worth $704 million, and that within that the successful Domain business was worth $474 million. That was based on a multiple of 12 times estimated earnings. Estimates of Domain's profitably will be replaced by harder numbers now. Morgan Stanley's argument last year was that the value of Fairfax's digital business was not being reflected in the group's share price, which hit a low of 36 cents in mid-October. Read the full column here. Glenn Stevens. Photo: Tamara Voninski 2:58pm: The Reserve Bank's easing cycle looks to be over ... as least, that's what the financial markets and several analysts are thinking. The positive retail sales data for February, which was released this morning, have strengthened some views that there will not be future rate cuts by the Reserve Bank this year. Markets were pricing in a 17 per cent chance of a rate cut in April, after the RBA held rates at 3 per cent on Tuesday. At the same time, they priced in a 64 per cent chance of a 25 basis points cut for the rest of the year. "Today's data are consistent with our view that the RBA is in 'wait and see' mode, assessing incoming information to determine whether monetary policy easing to date will be enough to see the economy transition relatively smoothly from mining-investment-led growth to other sources of activity," says ANZ analysts Savita Singh and Justin Fabo. If economic activity indicators continue to print on the strong side then the chances of a rate cut mid-year will be diminished.