Get ready Asia, another busy week in store
Summary
A busy week ahead starts with Asian markets digesting key weekend events: A widening in the Chinese yuan`s trading band and exit polls showing Crimea has voted to join Russia in a move that could fuel risk aversion.
A busy week ahead starts with Asian markets digesting key weekend events: A widening in the Chinese yuan`s trading band and exit polls showing Crimea has voted to join Russia in a move that could fuel risk aversion.
The key highlights of the week include Chinese foreign direct investment and house price data expected early in the week, the release minutes on Tuesday from the Reserve Bank of Australia`s (RBA) last meeting and a central bank meeting in the Philippines on Thursday. Japan trade data is also expected in the week.
Outside Asia, focus is likely to fall on a two-day meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which concludes on Wednesday. The Fed is seen moving ahead with a scaling back of its monetary stimulus, with another $10 billion “taper” of the bond-buying program to USD 55 billion a month.
“There`s lots of uncertainty in the market on Ukraine,” Deb Clarke, the global head of investment research at Mercer, said on CNBC, speaking about the implications of the weekend referendum in Crimea, which could exacerbate tensions between the West and Russia.
Everyone`s also concerned about China. We`ve had the yuan band widening at the weekend. We do see China as a concern and somewhere where there is risk…But the underlying fundamentals are still pretty strong,” she added.
China`s central bank on Saturday doubled the yuan`s daily trading range to 2 percent.
The move has been anticipated for some time and analysts say reflects confidence in Beijing that the economy is stable enough to handle further reforms in the country`s financial markets.
In Japan, February trade data is expected on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Economists polled by Reuters forecast a 12.4 percent rise in exports from a year earlier, compared with a 9.5 percent increase in January.
Elsewhere, minutes from the last central bank meeting in Australia are due for release on Tuesday. The RBA left its key interest rate steady at a record low of 2.5 percent earlier this month.
“The minutes from the last RBA Board meeting are likely to reiterate that the Bank is comfortable with the way the economy is responding to low interest rates, but that uncertainty remains around the handover from mining investment to the rest of the economy and as a result a period of stability in interest rates remains appropriate,” said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy and chief economist at AMP Capital said in a note.
– By CNBC.Com`s Dhara Ranasinghe; Follow her on Twitter @DharaCNBC
Copyright 2011 cnbc.com
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