2019.05.0218:00:00UTC+00Australia Building Approval Data Due On Friday

Australia will on Friday release March numbers for building approvals, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

Approvals are predicted to have tumbled 12.5 percent on month and 25.1 percent on year after jumping 19.1 percent on month and sliding 12.5 percent on year in February.

Hong Kong will provide March data for retail sales; in February, sales skidded 10.4 percent on year.

Malaysia will see March figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In February, imports were worth 55.5 billion ringgit and exports were at 66.6 billion ringgit for a trade surplus of 11.1 billion ringgit.

Thailand will release April data for consumer and producer prices. In March, overall inflation was up 0.41 percent on month and 1.2 percent on year, while core CPI rose 0.02 percent on month and 0.6 percent on year. Producer prices advanced 0.9 percent on month and 0.4 percent on year.

Finally, the stock markets in Japan remain closed through May 7 for a variety of national holidays.