Indonesia's trade surplus fell sharply to $89.1 million in April from $3.32 billion in the previous month, according to government data published Tuesday.
The consensus estimate was for a $1.50 billion surplus, according to Investing.com.
Exports jumped 22% to $25.30 billion, recovering from the 3.1% drop in March. Imports surged 22.5% to $25.21 billion, significantly faster than the 1.51% increase in March.
India is likely to ask the US for relief from any tariffs resulting from the US trade investigations, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, quoting unnamed officials.As per the report, the matter is likely to be raised when negotiators from India and the US trade team, led by chief negotiator Brendan Lynch, meet this week to finalize an interim trade deal.Earlier this year, the US Trade Representative launched investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act into countries, including India, over issues such as forced labor and excess production capacity. These may attract penalty tariffs if found guilty.The report said India has denied the allegations and asked the US to end the investigations. It is seeking that the US works out the matter within the framework of ongoing bilateral trade negotiations and not through unilateral means.(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)
Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Board Member Ian Harper said on Tuesday that any possible risk of long-term inflation expectations becoming unanchored requires "strong action," according to his speech on Tuesday.Harper said that Australia was seeing renewed inflation pressures even before the oil shock caused by the Middle East conflict.The RBA increased the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.35% at its May meeting."Higher interest rates are expected to slow the economy and lower the risk that inflation becomes entrenched," said Harper.
South Korea's corporate financing through debt and equity issuance rose by 13% to 22.616 trillion won from a month earlier, according to data released by the Financial Supervisory Service on Tuesday.Equity issues fell 6% from 440.2 billion won to 413.6 billion won, while debt issues grew 13.6% to 22.202 trillion won in April, from 19.543 trillion won in the previous month.During the period, there were four initial public offerings, and the IPO proceeds fell 25% month over month to 157.7 billion won.Public equity offerings, on the other hand, rose by over 11% to 255.9 billion won.The outstanding balance of commercial papers as of end of April was 246.888 trillion won, while short-term bonds stood at 93.295 trillion, the data showed.