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Hong Kong will announce March CPI inflation on 21 April. The headline inflation y/y is expected to have eased moderately. Food and housing (accounts for almost 60% of CPI weighting basket) likely stayed high offsetting the effect of lower oil prices.
Despite further mortgage tightening measures from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in February, housing prices in particular have been trending higher.
According to Standard Chartered estimates, the headline inflation is seen at 4.5% y/y from 4.6% prior.
The underlying CPI measure, which excludes distortions from one-off government concessions probably edged lower from previous 2.85%.
On the basis of this, 2015 headline inflation is projected to average an elevated level around 3 - 4%, reflecting still-solid domestic demand and minimal spillover from low oil prices.
USD/HKD is currently trading at 7.75125.
