Thailand
Malaysia: The week ahead – earnings, trade data, IPI, CPI, GDP
Corporate earnings, trade data in focus
TRADE figures to be released this week will continue to draw scrutiny as markets will assess the prospects of economic recovery.
The Statistics Department is expected to release July’s export, import and trade balance data on Friday.
Malaysia’s trade surplus widened by 98.7% to RM20.9bil in June 2020 – the largest ever recorded so far. Exports for the month rebounded with an 8.8% growth of RM82.9bil while imports fell by 5.6% to RM62bil.
ING believes a surprising bounce in Malaysia’s exports in June would be reversed in July.
The research house expects July’s exports to contract 15% while imports to slow down by 12%.
Meanwhile, a host of earnings results is set to be a key focus this week. Companies slated to announce their second quarter results this week include AirAsia
Group, DRB-Hicom Bhd, Telekom Malaysia Bhd, Axiata Group Bhd, Genting Bhd, Tenaga Nasional Bhd and IHH Healthcare Bhd.
South Korea monetary policy
THE Bank of Korea (BoK) will meet on Thursday to decide on its policy decision.
After cutting interest rates by a total of 125 basis points, to 0.50%, in the year through May, the BoK paused at the last meeting held in July.
In a report, ING senior Asia economist Prakash Sakpal said he doesn’t think that BoK will move this week either, which is also the broad consensus.
According to a Bloomberg poll, all the eight analysts surveyed expect no change to its policy rate at 0.50%.
UOB Global Economics and Markets Research is maintaining its call for the BoK to keep the current record low rate unchanged for this meeting and the rest of 2020.
It added that there could be increasing emphasis on non-interest rate tools as well as greater utilisation of fiscal policy.
Singapore IPI and CPI
Singapore is expected to release July’s consumer price index (CPI) today and industrial production index (IPI) for the month of July on Wednesday.
ING sees continued negative year-on-year IPI growth in Singapore and Thailand, although some of this is also due to the base effect.
Bloomberg estimates its inflation to contract 0.6% year-on-year, from -0.5% year-on-year in June and core inflation to contract 0.4% year-on-year, from -0.2% year-on-year in June.
Singapore’s IPI fell 6.7% year-on-year in June, extending May’s revised 8.1% decline, the Economic Development Board said.
US second quarter GDP
The United States is expected to announce its revised second quarter gross domestic product (GDP) on Thursday.
Its GDP in the second quarter plunged 32.9% on an annualised basis, according to the Commerce Department’s first reading.
According to economists, the revision is not expected to be any different.
They noted that the economic activity in the US took a hit in April and the rebound in May and June could lead to a modest upward revision.
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/business/business-news/2020/08/24/the-week-ahead—earnings-trade-data-ipi-cpi-gdp