The Bank of Japan will on Friday release the results of its quarterly Tankan survey of business sentiment, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.
The large manufacturers' index is expected to fall to +12 from +18 in the previous three months, while the outlook is tipped to sink to +1- from +13. All-industry capex was seen higher by 9.3 percent in the three months prior.
South Korea will provide March figures for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are tipped to jump 27.8 percent on year, up from 25.1 percent in February. Exports are called higher by an annual 17.5 percent, down from 20.6 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus in February was $0.84 billion.
Australia will see March results for the Performance of Manufacturing Index from the Australian Industry Group; in February, the index score was 53.2.
Indonesia will release March numbers for consumer prices, with overall inflation expected to rise 0.61 percent on month and 2.56 percent on year - up from -0.2 percent on month and 2.06 percent on year in February. Core CPI is expected to rise 2.33 percent on year, up from 2.03 percent a month earlier.
Thailand will see March results for its business confidence index; in February, the index score was 47.8.
Finally, a number of the regional countries will see March results for their respective manufacturing PMIs from S&P Global, including Australia (57.0 previously), Indonesia (51.2), Japan (Jibun, 52.7), the Philippines (52.8), South Korea (53.8), Taiwan (54.3), Thailand (52.5) and China (Caixin, 50.4).
