This coming week, the focus will be on the meeting between Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang in Beijing on Friday.

This will be Mahathir’s second visit to China after assuming the premiership for the second time. The 93-year-old met the two top Chinese leaders in August last year, to reset and recalibrate their bilateral relationship under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, which came to power last May.

This time, Mahathir is scheduled to attend the second edition of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation at the invitation of Xi, and is slated to deliver a speech at the event on April 26.

Several memoranda of understanding, including on palm oil, are expected to be signed on the sidelines of the event.

On Monday, focus will resume on former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International Sdn Bhd graft trial. Najib faces criminal breach of trust and abuse of power charges in relation to the RM42 million from SRC that was deposited into his accounts.

The trial last week saw testimony from Bank Negara Malaysia manager Azizul Adzani Abdul Ghafar, who took part in the raid at AmBank Raja Chulan in Kuala Lumpur. Azizul is the prosecution’s second witness. Another Bank Negara officer, Mohammad Nizam Yahya, also testified.

The Edge will be covering the trial involving the former highest-ranking politician in Malaysia who led the country for nine years, with updates on theedgemarkets.com.

Also on Monday, Bank Negara is set to release its international reserves data for mid-April. As at March 29, they stood at US$103 billion, a 0.4% increase from US$102.6 billion as at March 15.

Other data to look out for include the Consumer Price Index numbers for March, which will be released on Wednesday. The CPI, which measures inflation, declined 0.4% year on year in February, led by the drop in transport costs. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg are expecting March’s inflation growth to come in at 0.3% y-o-y.

Elsewhere, neighbouring Singapore is set to release its March CPI data on Tuesday. The city state’s CPI grew 0.5% in February while core inflation, which excludes the changes in the price of cars and accommodation, was at a nine-month low of 1.5%. Singapore will also be releasing its March industrial production numbers on Friday. Its manufacturing output in February rose 0.7% from a year earlier.

Indonesia, which just saw the conclusion of its 2019 elections with Indonesian President Joko Widodo declaring victory, will see a key monetary policy decision by its central bank on Thursday. All 10 economists polled by Bloomberg expect Bank Indonesia to keep the policy rate unchanged at 6%.

Meanwhile, markets in Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand and Europe will be closed on Monday in conjunction with Easter.

The Bank of Japan is expected to make its monetary policy decision on Thursday. A Reuters poll of 17 economists expects the BoJ to retain its massive stimulus as well as the short-term interest rate target at minus 0.1%, while also maintaining its pledge to guide 10-year government bond yields at around 0%.

This will be the last working week for Japan before the Land of the Rising Sun kicks off a 10-day holiday on April 27 in conjunction with the coronation of its new emperor, Crown Prince Naruhito, who inherits the throne from his father, Emperor Akihito.

Back home, a slew of annual general meetings (AGMs) of banking groups are set to take place, with both CIMB Group Holdings Bhd and Public Bank Bhd holding their meetings on Monday.

RHB Bank Bhd will be conducting its shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday, the same day as those of Boustead Holdings Bhd and MISC Bhd.

Companies holding their AGMs on Thursday include Nestlé (M) Bhd, Maxis Bhd, Petronas Dagangan Bhd, Westports Holdings Bhd and Unisem (M) Bhd. On Friday, Dutch Lady Milk Industries Bhd is set to hold its shareholders’ meeting.

Meanwhile, Digi.Com Bhd and Cycle & Carriage Bintang Bhd are set to release their financial results for the first quarter of 2019 in the coming week, with Digi releasing its results on Monday and Cycle & Carriage, on Tuesday.

Cycle & Carriage recently announced the appointment of a new chairman, Eric Chan Tze Choong, who will helm the group from May 1 onwards. Chan, a Singaporean, is currently the managing director of Cycle & Carriage Singapore. He will replace Haslam Grey Preeston, who has been chairman of Cycle & Carriage since April 19, 2016.