The regional calendar highlights on Monday are New Zealand trade data and Australian inventories and corporate profit data, all for the third quarter.
Economists polled by Reuters expect New Zealand’s terms of trade to fall 1.9% on from the previous quarter, Australian inventories to fall 0.6%, and export volumes to slide 3.8%.
The economic and policy calendar for the rest of the week has plenty more potential market-moving moments, including interest rate decisions from Australia and India, inflation figures from South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand, and GDP from Japan, Australia and South Korea.
On the policy front, the Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday is expected to keep its cash rate on hold at a 12-year high of 4.35%, according to 28 of 30 analysts polled by Reuters. The other two are going for a 25 basis point hike.
New Zealand’s central bank surprised markets last week with the hawkish rhetoric that accompanied its decision to leave rates on hold, and the RBA could echo a similar message.
In stark contrast to the Fed, rates futures markets are barely pricing in any rate cuts from the RBA next year at all. Indeed, the chance of a hike in the coming months is greater than the chance of a cut, current pricing shows.
