China reported a larger than expected trade surplus for February even though both imports and exports decreased for the first time since May 2020. China Securities Daily speculated that the People’s Bank of China could cut its reserve requirement ratio soon.
South Korea will halt its WTO complaint against Japan and will seek to relax export curbs imposed in 2019. The Reserve Bank of Australia increased its cash rate by 25 bps to 3.60%, as expected.
China’s February trade surplus $116.88 bln (expected surplus of $81.80 bln; last surplus of $78.01 bln). February Imports -10.2% yr/yr (expected -5.5%; last -7.5%) and Exports -6.8% yr/yr (expected -9.4%; last -9.9%)
Japan’s January Average Cash Earnings 0.8% yr/yr (expected 1.9%; last 4.1%)
South Korea’s Q4 GDP -0.4% qtr/qtr, as expected (last 0.3%); 1.3% yr/yr (expected 1.4%; last 1.3%)
Australia’s January Retail Sales 1.9% m/m, as expected (last -4.0%). January trade surplus AUD11.69 bln (expected surplus of AUD 12.50 bln; last surplus of AUD12.24 bln). January Imports 5.0% m/m (last 1.0%) and Exports 1.0% (last -1.0%)