FX.co ★ Bank Of Japan Minutes On Tap For Monday

The Bank of Japan will on Monday release the minutes from its monetary policy meeting on March 17 and 18, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

At the meeting, the bank voted to maintain its monetary policy stimulus, holding the interest rate at -0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the central bank. The bank will also continue to purchase a necessary amount of Japanese government bonds without setting an upper limit so that 10-year JGB yields will remain at around zero percent.

Japan also will see April results for the services and composite indexes from Jibun Bank; in March, their scores were 49.4 and 50.3, respectively.

Taiwan will see April data for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to rise 20.0 percent on year, easing from 20.3 percent in March. Exports are called higher by an annual 16.05 percent, down from 21.3 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $4.88 billion, up from $4.66 billion a month earlier.

China will provide April figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In March, imports were down 0.1 percent on year and exports rose an annual 14.7 percent for a trade surplus of $47.38 billion.

Indonesia will release Q1 GDP figures and April numbers for consumer prices. GDP is expected to fall 0.89 percent on quarter and rise 5.0 percent on year after gaining 1.06 percent on quarter and 5.02 percent on year in the previous three months. Inflation is tipped to rise 0.84 percent on month and 3.36 percent on year after gathering 0.66 percent on month and 2.64 percent on year in March.

Finally, the markets in Hong Kong are closed on Monday for National Day and will re-open on Tuesday.