2020.03.3022:00:00UTC+00China Manufacturing PMI Data Due On Tuesday

China will on Tuesday see March results for its manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite PMIs, headlining a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

The manufacturing PMI is expected to see a score of 45.0, up from 35.7 in February. The non-manufacturing PMI is pegged at 42.0, up from 29.6.

Japan will see February figures for retail sales, unemployment, industrial production housing starts and construction orders.

Retail sales are expected to sink 1.5 percent on month and 1.5 percent on year after adding 0.6 percent on month and falling 0.4 percent on year in January. The jobless rate is called steady at 2.4 percent, while the job-to-applicant ratio is expected to slip to 1.47 from 1.49.

Industrial production is called flat on month and down 4.9 percent on year after adding 1.0 percent on month and falling 2.3 percent on year in the previous month. Housing starts are predicted to slide 14.7 percent on year after dropping 10.1 percent a month earlier. Construction orders plunged an annual 17.0 percent in January.

Australia will see February numbers for private sector credit, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.3 percent on month and 2.6 percent on year after gaining 0.3 percent on month and 2.5 percent on year in January.

Australia will see February figures for building permits and March results for the business confidence and activity outlook indexes from ANZ. Permits were down 2.0 percent on month in January, while the business confidence index saw a score of -19.4 in February and the activity outlook was at +12.0.

Hong Kong will provide Q4 data for its current account. In the three months prior, the current account saw a surplus of HKD74.45 billion, while the financial account had a deficit of HKD103.64 billion and the capital account was a deficit of HKD 115 million.

Thailand will release February numbers for imports, exports, trade balance and current account. In January, imports were worth $19.28 billion and exports were at $19.67 billion for a trade surplus of $0.38 billion. The current account surplus was $3.44 billion.

South Korea will see February figures for industrial production and retail sales. In January, industrial production was down 1.3 percent on month and 2.4 percent on year, while retail sales fell 3.1 percent on month and gained 1.8 percent on year.