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Asia Week Ahead - Inflation Prints; GDP; Export, Import Data

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For the Week Ahead in Asia, inflation data will be in focus as investors gauge the region's economic momentum.

China released inflation data over the weekend, with consumer and producer inflation decelerating to 0.5% and 3.5%, respectively, in July.

The week opens with Bank of Japan's minutes of the July 30-31 meeting, with Tuesday seeing Malaysia's industrial output.

Mid week, India will release inflation figures, with South Korea's July unemployment rate and Singapore's revised Q2 GDP also on the calendar.

Japan will publish producer price data on Thursday, with South Korea's export and import prices for July and India's wholesale price inflation set to be published Friday.

MONDAY, AUG. 10

Bank of Japan policymakers see room for further rate hikes as inflation moves toward the 2% target, while some members favored holding rates steady to assess past increases, according to the minutes of the July 30-31 meeting released Monday.

Officials projected moderate economic growth and gradual inflation acceleration through fiscal 2027.

TUESDAY, AUG. 11

Indonesia's retail sales are forecast to increase 1.8% in June, according to Trading Economics.

Malaysia will release industrial output data.

WEDNESDAY, AUG. 12

India's inflation is projected to remain unchanged at 4.4% in July based on market forecasts, according to ING.

An increase of over 4% in daily food-price data in July may lead to a minimal rise in headline inflation to 4.5%, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing ANZ Research analyst Dhiraj Nim.

South Korea's unemployment rate is expected to rise to 2.8% in July from 2.7% in June, according to a projection by Trading Economics.

UOB Senior Economist Alvin Liew expects Singapore's GDP for the second quarter to be revised to 5.8% conditional on unchanged construction and services growth, the WSJ reported. GDP stood at 5.7% according to advance estimates released in July.

Elsewhere, sentiment among major Japanese manufacturers is forecast to see a slight boost, with the Reuters Tankan manufacturing index increasing to 14 points in August from 13 points in July, according to Trading Economics.

The country is also expected to see machine tool orders increase 42% in July, compared with 52.8% previously, a Trading Economics forecast revealed.

THURSDAY, AUG. 13

Japan's producer prices are projected to rise to 7.5% year over year in July from 7.1% previously, according to a consensus of experts at ING.

The forecast was based on higher input costs amid a rise in energy prices, a weaker yen, and import costs.

FRIDAY, AUG. 14

South Korea will release export and import data for July.

Export prices are expected to rise 55%, compared with 48.9% previously, while import prices will likely increase 31%, up from 20.6%, according to a Trading Economics forecast.

India will publish wholesale price inflation figures for the month of July, with a Trading Economics consensus pointing to a rise of 10.25% in July from 9.87% previously.

Malaysia will publish revised GDP figures for Q2, with DBS economists projecting growth of more than 5%, the WSJ said.

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