Analysts at TD Securities are expecting Australia’s Q1 private capex to show a decent advance of 2.7% q/q , while this is entirely skewed towards non-residential construction (+6% q/q) as foreshadowed in the recent Q1 construction report.

• "The sector that feeds into GDP – plant and equipment – is expected to be weak (f/c -1%/q). For 2018/19 (almost an actual print) we look for a modest upgrade from $A118.3b to $A122.8b (a 4% increase compared with 2% in the prior survey) and an upgrade from $A92.1b to $A100b for next year 2019/20 (although after adjustment is the same 1% increase).
• Building approvals for Apr are also released and we have seen double-digit swings in both directions in recent months. The odds, therefore, favour a flat print as predicting the appearance/disappearance of high-density buildings in this series is near-impossible.”