Week Ahead for Asia-Pacific

     CHINA

     Data

     Monday about 09:30 CST (0130 GMT): The National Bureau of Statistics will

release August home prices data for 70 cities. It is expected the data will show

a growth at a slower pace as government restrictions on home purchases and

higher mortgage lending rates have their intended effect. The growth of new home

prices in the four Tier 1 cities decelerated at an annual basis for the 10th

consecutive month in July, down a collective 1.7 percentage points from June.

The 31 Tier 2 cities saw the eighth straight month of decelerating year-on-year

price growth, dropping a collective 0.8 percentage point compared with June.

     Week of Sep. 18, day/time uncertain: The State Administration of Foreign

Exchange (SAFE) will announce bank foreign exchange sales data for August. Sales

are expected to have declined further as the willingness of banks' clients to

purchase foreign exchange continued to decrease as the yuan surged during the

month. Banks sold a net CNY42.8 billion worth of foreign exchange to clients in

July, down significantly from CNY92.3 billion in June.

     AUSTRALIA

     Australia will begin Daylight Saving Time (ADT) on Sunday, Oct. 1.

     Reserve Bank of Australia

     Tuesday, 11:30 am AEST (0130 GMT). Minutes of the September board meeting

are due to be released, with the central bank's comments on non-mining

investment, wage growth and the housing market of particular interest.

     Wednesday, 1:05 pm AEST (0305 GMT). RBA Assistant Governor for economics

Luci Ellis will speak at Australian Business Economists' lunchtime briefing on

the topic "The current global expansion." There will be Q&A session.

     Thursday, 3:10 pm AEST (0510 GMT). RBA Governor Philip Lowe will speak on

"The Next Chapter" at the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia business

briefing in Perth.

     Data

     Tuesday, 9:30 am AEST (2330 GMT Monday). ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence

data for the week ended Sep. 17 are due to be released. After a 3.8% fall in the

previous week, confidence may bounce back, buoyed by strong labor force data

released last Thursday.

     Tuesday, 11:30 am AEST (0130 GMT). Australian Bureau of Statistics is due

to publish the house price index for Q2r, with expectations for gains of 1.0%

q/q and 9.1% y/y, which would mark a slowing from the gains of 2.2% q/q and

10.2% y/y posted in Q1.

     Wednesday, 10:30 am AEST (0030 GMT. Westpac-Melbourne Institute's leading

index for August is due to be released. The index could signal another month of

below-trend growth (last -0.32%).

     NEW ZEALAND

     New Zealand will begin Daylight Saving Time (NZDT) on Sunday, Sep. 24.

     Reserve Bank of New Zealand

     No major events are scheduled.

     Data

     Wednesday, 10:45 am NZST (2245 GMT Wednesday). Balance of payments data for

Q2 are due to be released, with expectation is for the current account deficit

to remain steady around 3.0-3.1% of GDP in the year to Q2, compared with 3.1% in

the year to Q1.

     Thursday, 10:45 am NZST (2245 GMT Wednesday): Q2 GDP data is due to be

released, with the MNI survey median forecast for 0.8% q/q growth, taking y/y

GDP to +2.5%. This would be slightly slower than the 0.9% q/q growth forecast by

the RBNZ.

     Thursday, 10:45 AM NZST (2245 GMT Wednesday). Net migration data for August

are due to be released.

     JAPAN

     Bank of Japan

     Thursday, about noon JST (0300 GMT). BOJ expected to release its monetary

policy statement following its two-day board meeting.

     Thursday, 3:30 pm JST (0630 GMT). BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda to hold a

news conference to discuss the board's decision.

     The Bank of Japan board is expected to maintain its current monetary policy

stance at its two-day meeting ending Thursday and for sometime after that, given

the economy is continuing the moderate expansion expected by the board and

geopolitical risks have not seriously hurt business or consumer confidence.

     BOJ officials believe the path toward 2% inflation remains intact despite

the slow pickup in consumer prices and even if there is a slight downward

revision to the BOJ board's CPI forecast for fiscal 2017 in its quarterly

Outlook Report in October. The board will review its GDP and CPI forecasts for

the three-year projection period ending through fiscal 2019.

     New board members Hitoshi Suzuki, who was an executive at the Bank of

Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, and Goushi Kataoka, a former economist at Mitsubishi UFJ

Research and Consulting, will participate in their first policy meeting this

week after joining the board on July 24. They replaced Takehiro Sato and

Takahide Kiuchi, the last remaining

     dissenting voices on the nine-member policymaking panel. Kataoka is

believed to be sympathetic to the reflationary policy stance of Governor Kuroda,

and Suzuki is also expected to follow the governor's lead.

     Friday, 3 pm JST (0600 GMT), former BOJ board member Takahide Kiuchi,

currently Nomura Research Institute executive economist, speaks at the Nippon

Press Center in Tokyo.

     Data

     Wednesday, 0850 JST (2350 GMT Tuesday): The Ministry of Finance releases

August trade. The MNI median forecasts: exports +14.7% on year for the ninth

straight y/y rise vs. +13.4% in July; imports +11.7% for the eighth straight

rise vs. +16.3% in July; the trade balance a surplus of Y101.3 billion for the

third straight black ink vs. a surplus of

     Y421.7 billion in July and a deficit of Y34.6 billion in August 2016.

     Wednesday, 0850 JST (2350 GMT Tuesday): The BOJ releases preliminary

quarterly flow of funds for April-June.

     Friday, 0900 JST (0000 GMT): The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

releases revised July wages. Total monthly average cash earnings per regular

employee fell 0.3% on year in July, posting the first year-on-year drop in 14

months after rising 0.4% in June, but the gradual uptrend remains intact. The

decrease was caused by a preliminary decline in summer bonuses and continued

weak overtime pay. But "special

     pay" including bonuses may be revised up sharply when data from more

surveyed firms are added later, as was the case for June. In real terms, average

wages fell 0.8% on year, the second straight drop after falling 0.1% in June.

     Japanese Government Bonds

     Monday. Japanese markets closed for Respect for the Aged Day public

holiday.

     Tuesday. BOJ outright purchase operation for JGBs with remaining life of

5-10 years expected.

     Wednesday. Ministry of Finance to auction Y4.4 trillion in three-month

treasury discount bills.

     Japanese government bond yields are likely to stay at low levels on

continued tight supply-demand conditions and geopolitical risks posed by North

Korea's nuclear arms threat. But volatility in bond markets may increase

temporarily if safe-haven buying of the yen emerges and weighs on JGB prices.

     The 10-year JGB yield is seen moving between 0.005% and 0.040% this week

against the bank's target of around zero. It rose to 0.040% Thursday for the

highest level since mid-August after falling to -0.010% on Sept. 8, the lowest

since Nov. 15, 2016.

--MNI BEIJING Bureau; +1 202-371-2121; email: john.carter@mni-news.com