The Reserve Bank of Australia will on Tuesday wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on its benchmark interest rate, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.
The RBA is widely expected to trim the base rate by 25 basis points, from 2.25 percent to 2.00 percent.
Australia also will see March trade data and April numbers for the Performance of Service Index from AiG. The trade balance is expected to show a deficit of A$1.00 billion following the A$1.256 billion shortfall in February. The service index had a score of 50.2 in March.
Hong Kong will provide March data for retail sales. By value, sales are expected to add 5.0 percent on year after surging 14.9 percent in February. By volume, sales are tipped to gain an annual 6.5 percent, slowing from 18.2 percent in the previous month.
Indonesia will provide Q1 figures for gross domestic product, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.25 percent on quarter and 4.93 percent on year. That follows the 2.06 percent quarterly contraction and the 5.01 percent yearly increase in the three months prior.
Taiwan will provide April numbers for consumer and wholesale prices. CPI is tipped to fall 0.65 percent on year after losing 0.61 percent in March. WPI is called at -7.8 percent after showing -8.55 percent in the previous month.
The Philippines will release April numbers for consumer prices and March figures for producer prices. CPI in March was down 0.1 percent on month and up 2.4 percent on year in March, while PPI was up 0.5 percent on month and down 5.1 percent on year in February.
Finally, the markets in South Korea and Japan are closed on Tuesday for Children’s Day, while the markets in Thailand are off for Coronation Day. South Korea and Thailand are back in action on Wednesday, while Japan remains closed until Thursday.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com