2018.05.3118:02:00UTC+00New Zealand Terms Of Trade Due On Friday

New Zealand will on Friday release Q1 numbers for terms of trade, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The terms of trade are expected to sink 2.0 percent on quarter after adding 0.8 percent in the three months prior.

New Zealand also will see May results for the consumer confidence index; in April, the index dropped 5.9 percent to a score of 120.5.

Australia will see May figures for the Performance of Manufacturing Index from AiG, and also for the commodity price index from the Reserve Bank of Australia. In April, the manufacturing index score was 58.2, while the commodity index slipped 1.4 percent to a score of 109.0.

Japan will provide Q1 data for capital spending and company profits. Capex is expected to add 3.2 percent after gaining 4.3 percent in the previous three months. Excluding software, capex is tipped to rise 3.7 percent, slowing from 4.7 percent in Q4. Company profits were up 0.9 percent in the three months prior, while sales jumped 5.9 percent.

Japan also will see May scores for the manufacturing PMI from Nikkei (52.5 previous), as will several other regional countries, including Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines and Myanmar.

China will see May results for the manufacturing PMI from Caixin, with forecasts suggesting a score of 51.2, up from 51.1 in April.

South Korea will release revised Q1 numbers for gross domestic product and also see May figures for consumer prices.

In the April 26 preliminary reading, Q1 GDP was called higher by 1.1 percent on quarter and 2.8 percent on year. In the fourth quarter, GDP was down 0.2 percent on quarter and up 2.8 percent on year.

Inflation in April was up 0.8 percent on month and 1.4 percent on year, while core CPI advanced 1.4 percent both on month and on year.

Finally, the markets in Malaysia and Indonesia are closed on Friday in observance of the King's Birthday and Pancasila Day, respectively. They will re-open on Monday.