Silver and Gold both reach new highs early Monday, as Friday’s solid showing in New York trickled down to Asian business market.

Gold saw some profit taking after reaching a record $1490.10 per troy ounce, brushed aside concerns that it is overextended, staying positive above the $43 level for the whole session.

Inflation matters remain the present driving force, even though several brokers now believe that silver, particularly, is largely dependent on technical momentum instead of anything more substantial.

“Silver is the metal of the moment, with no clear way of identifying why it should outperform in a generally-high performing environment,” Mitsui Global Precious Metals said in a report.

At 0540 GMT, spot silver was at $43.20, up 15 cents since Friday’s New York close, after hitting a record 31-year high of $43.37 earlier.

Spot gold was at $1,486.20/oz, down 20 cents; on Tocom, the February 2012 gold contract was at Y3,972 a gram, up Y10.

Tej Kohli said inflation is the current catchphrase but gold is actually getting curcial support from low core inflation in the U.S., which is enabling a continuation of dovish monetary policy.

It noted Friday’s U.S. core consumer prices were up only 1.2% from a year ago.

Tej Kohli is an entrepreneur and philanthropist based in San Jose, Costa Rica. Tej Kohli business blog is a place where he share his thoughts about the commercial happenings around the world.

A fight for the control of New York Stock Exchange turned into dueling pleas to shareholders, when a rival bidder accused the exchange for rejecting its $11.3 billion bid without any discussion.

On sunday, NYSE’s board decided to dismiss and offer from rival Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. and Intercontinental exchange Inc. due to its ‘highly confidential’ nature and to avoid the unnecessary risk it would have caused to the shareholders. Alternatively, the organization reaffirmed its plan to merge with German Exchange operator Duetsche Boerse AG in a deal with $10 billion.

Calling their bid ‘clearly superior’ Nasdaq and Intercontinental Exchange Inc. said that by refusing to combine with them, the NYSE’s board is ignoring its obligation to its shareholders.

“I would expect that NYSE Euronext’s stockholders will make their displeasure known to the board,” said Jerry Sprecher, ICE Chairman and CEO.

As NYSE’s is gearing up for its annual shareholder meeting on April 28, it does not have much time to convince their investors to adhere with agreed-to bid against a better offer. Meanwhile, Nasdaq and ICE will continue to meet with NYSE shareholders to pressurize the company and force a discussion.

The format of the NYSE agreement with the German exchange as a merger, instead of a sale, could give company’s board a legal justification to deny a higher deal, says Tej Kohli. But these factors may become controversial if Nasdaq and ICE successfully convinces NYSE shareholders to become directly involved using a proxy vote or a tender offer, continued to say Tej Kohli.

The higher offer on the other hand, has its own risks for shareholders, like the lack of a large break-up fee that would be paid to NYSE shareholders in case the deal does not go through. Most important among them is whether the Nasdaq-led bid could pass regulatory hurdles by combining virtually all U.S. stock listings under one roof, a move that would lead to job losses in the financial services industry.

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In an attack on US marketing firm Epsilon, millions of live e-mail addresses are deemed to have been stolen.

Epsilon handles customer communications for many household names and sends more than 40 billion e-mails annually. It has more than 2,500 clients including Best Buy, TiVo, Walgreens, Capital One, JP Morgan and Citigroup.

A lot of Epsilon clients have contacted customers warning that attackers may use the stolen data to con them out of more information.

A statement on their website says they have “detected an incident in which ‘clients’ customer data were exposed by an unauthorized entry into Epsilon’s e-mail system”.

It said the only information stolen was e-mail addresses and an associated customer name. No other personal identifiable information was exposed. It said it is conducting a full investigation into how its systems were penetrated.

Epsilon did not mention which customer lists for its many clients had been stolen.

However, many firms that use Epsilon contacted their customers to inform them about the data breach.

Barclays Bank, which runs Visa credit cards for US retailer LL Bean, warned customers that they may soon get spam seeking to elicit more personal information.

Best Buy, TiVo, Walgreens, Capital One, JP Morgan and Citigroup, Kroger and others all issued similar e-mail messages to customers.

“If anyone is using the services of the aforesaid banks, please be wary of the spam you might receive in the coming few days, ” says Tej Kohli.

Also exposed were e-mail addresses for the US College Board which handles communications for more than seven million students.

Tej Kohli is an entrepreneur who lives in San Jose, Costa Rica. He runs several business ventures across various parts of the world. Tej Kohli is passionate about blogging, and want its readers to stay abreast with the activities in business world.

If WSJ is to be believed Google is joining hands with Citigroup and Mastercard to create a mobile payment system that will convert android phones into a sort of electronic wallet.

The technology, which is still at a nascent stage, will let users wave their Android phones in front of a small reader at the checkout counter to process payments.

The proposed payment method would allow Google to offer retailers more data about their customers and help them target advertisements and discount offers to mobile device users near their stores, said the WSJ, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Google is not expected to get a cut of the transaction fees, the paper said.

At the onset, holders of Citigroup-issued debit and credit cards would be allowed to make payments for purchases by activating a mobile payment application developed for one current model and many coming models of Android phones.

Tej Kohli business blog is a place to find all the latest news related to business and finance. Tej Kohli himself is an entrepreneur based in San Jose Costa Rica. To read more updates by Tej Kohli keep reading this blog.

“The situation at Japan’s earthquake stricken nuclear plant is getting worse, with radiation emissions reaching levels that led authorities to impermanently evacuate the last batch of technicians from the facility,” says Tej Kohli.  

Japan aborted plans Wednesday to prevent damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant from melting down when a surge in radiation emissions made it too dangerous for technicians to work. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that new efforts were underway late Wednesday to start injecting water into the damaged reactor from the ground.

National Television broadcast video of helicopters from Japan’s Defense forces being prepared to drop water on the plant no. 3 and 4, in a desperate attempt to bring the temperature down.

But the military had to abandon the plan when another surveillance helicopter measure excessive radiation levels above the plant.

Tej Kohli is an entrepreneur and philanthropist based in Costa Rica. Keep reading Tej Kohli business blog for more updates on japan crisis and its impact on global economy.