SYDNEY (MarketWatch) � Asia investors will likely be keen to parse a preliminary survey of Chinese manufacturing and earnings from apparel firm Esprit, among other events in the week ahead.
Wednesday is slated to see the release of HSBC�s February flash Purchasing Managers� Index reading for the Chinese manufacturing sector.
The flash PMI, which contains the initial 85% to 90% of responses to HSBC�s survey of manufacturers, is usually the first signal of economic conditions in China for any given month.
Last month�s survey showed that Chinese manufacturing failed to grow, although the contraction eased slightly from the previous month.
The final version of the HSBC China PMI printed at 48.8 on a 100 point scale, slightly up from December�s final reading of 48.7. Meanwhile, a competing, government-backed version of the PMI climbed to 50.5 in January, from 50.3 in December.
Economists and analysts will no doubt try to extrapolate the path of monetary policy from the surveys, although comparison readings may be distorted by the Chinese New Year holiday, which occurred in January this year but in February in 2011.
Also on tap for the coming week are minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia, which will be eyed after the central bank surprised markets earlier in the month by keeping its key interest rate on hold at 4.25%.
On the corporate earnings front, apparel firm Esprit Holdings Ltd. HK:330 �ESHDF �is set to announce first-half earnings.
Last September, Esprit announced that its fiscal-year profit fell 98% after taking a huge provision for store closures, with the move triggering a near-20% one-day drop for its share price.
The firm said that at that time that it would also invest 18.5 billion Hong Kong dollars ($2.4 billion) over four years to rebuild its brand, which would likely put pressure on its earnings over the next two to three years.
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