• The European Central Bank on Thursday will resist calls to start tightening policy against surging inflation but robust U.S. jobs data on Friday could seal the case for another Federal Reserve hike the week after.
So, let's say minus 0.4 percent rates in Europe and more than 0.75 percent in Washington.
• China will continue to cut excess capacity in the steel sector in 2018, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Vice Chairman Ning Jizhe said at a news conference on Monday.
China will cut steel capacity by 50 million tonnes and coal output by more than 150 million tonnes this year, according to a state planner work report at the opening of the annual meeting of parliament.
• China's defense budget will rise 7 percent in 2017, to 1.044 trillion yuan ($151.43 billion), state media said on Monday, after the omission of exact figures from an annual report sparked questions over transparency on military spending.
• China has changed its long-standing rhetoric on its yuan policy, signalling Beijing may alter its course on exchange rates this year under pressure from US Federal Reserve rate rises and US President Donald Trump's threats of a trade war.
• A flurry of data in coming weeks is expected to show China posted solid economic growth in February, even as the government trimmed its growth target for the year to focus on containing the risks from a rapid build-up in debt.
Export and import growth is expected to hit multi-year highs, according to Reuters polls, adding to views that the global economy are shifting into higher gear and giving China's policymakers more confidence to press ahead on oft-delayed structural reforms.
China's first-quarter economic growth could accelerate to 7 percent year-on-year, from 6.8 percent in the last quarter, economists at OCBC wrote in a note on Monday, while adding the pace may ease beginning in spring.
· Reflecting continued strength in its manufacturing sector, and particularly heavy industry, China's producer price index (PPI) likely rose 7.7 percent from a year earlier, the sharpest gain in nearly 9 years.
• Oil prices fell in Asian trade on Monday, wiping out some of the gains of the previous session amid worries lower growth targets in China could cut oil demand and ongoing concern over Russia's compliance with a global deal to cut oil output. But worries over escalating violence in the Middle East put a floor under prices.
Brent crude futures dropped 47 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $55.43 a barrel as of 0749 GMT after settling 1.5 percent higher in the previous session.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 47 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $52.86 a barrel after closing the previous session up 1.4 percent.
Reference: Reuters,CNBC
Thai
Eng