Asia look ahead: Big week for Japan and China
Investors will get a pulse check on Asia’s two largest economies, Japan and China, with a raft of data scheduled for release over the course of the week.
Starting with Japan, revised gross domestic product (GDP) on Monday showed the economy grew an annualized 3.9 percent in the January-March period, higher than the preliminary reading of a 2.4 percent increase.
The country’s current account balance posted its tenth straight month of surplus in April at 1.3 trillion yen ($10.5 billion), but that was lower than Reuters forecasts for a 1.7 trillion yen surplus.
Meanwhile, machinery orders – a highly volatile data series – are due on Wednesday and are estimated to have fallen by 2 percent on-month in April, according to Reuters, following a 2.9 percent rise in March.
China data dump
China will publish a raft of economic indicators for May, including trade balance on Monday, inflation on Tuesday, retail sales, industrial production, and fixed asset investment on Thursday.
“A very big week for Chinese data which will provide further guidance on the pace of economic activity,” National Australia Bank (NAB) wrote in a note.
Trade figures are expected to show exports falling 5 percent on year and imports plunging 10.7 percent on year, according to a Reuters poll.