The central bank of the Philippines will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Thursday and then announce its decision on interest rates, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

The central bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark interest rate on hold at 4.00 percent.

Malaysia will release Q1 figures for gross domestic product. GDP is expected to add 0.6 percent on quarter and 5.4 percent on year after gaining 2.0 percent on quarter and 5.8 percent on year in the three months prior.

New Zealand will provide Q1 data for retail sales; in the fourth quarter, retail sales were up 1.7 percent on quarter. New Zealand also will see April results for the Performance of Manufacturing Index; in March, the index score was 54.5.

Japan will see April figures for M2 and M3 money stocks; they are expected to hold steady at 3.6 percent and 3.0 percent, respectively.

Finally, the markets in Indonesia are closed on Thursday in observance of Ascension Day, and will re-open on Friday.

The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com