Japan machinery orders likely shrank in February, PPI inflation slowed in March

Japan will release February machinery orders (MoR) and March PPI inflation on 13 April. 

Exports and industrial production contracted m/m in February, partly due to sluggish external demand; the MoR is also likely to follow a similar trend, as it is an
indicator of business capex. 

"We expect MoR to have declined 2.0% m/m in February after dropping 1.7% m/m in January", says Standard Chartered. 

Prices in the energy sector contracted significantly in the first two months of 2015. This trend likely continued in March, putting downward pressure on domestic PPI inflation. 

"PPI inflation likely continued to slow to 0.4% y/y in March from 0.5% in February. Excluding the sales-tax effect, y/y PPI inflation likelydropped by 2.5ppt in March", added Standard Chartered