July 17 (Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian

markets.

A mixed day in world markets on Monday suggests there will be no

clear narrative driving Asian markets at the open on Tuesday,

with investors still leaning on U.S. earnings, remarks from Fed

officials and signals from China's 'third plenum' for guidance.

There are key events and data releases that will move asset

markets in their respective countries, namely an interest rate

decision and guidance from Indonesia's central bank, and

inflation figures from New Zealand.

But otherwise, it's a mixed bag.

For example, gold jumped 2% to a record high of $2,469 an

ounce on Tuesday yet the dollar rose and the 10-year U.S.

Treasury yield slid to a four-month low of 4.16%.

The U.S. yield curve paused its recent steepening trend too

- having turned positive on Monday for the first time since

January, the 2s/30s curve inverted again on Tuesday. The 6 basis

point reversal was pretty steep, with no obvious trigger.

Asian stocks could get a lift from Wall Street's rise after

figures showed that U.S. retail sales in June were much stronger

than economists had expected. The Dow notched a record closing

high, while Big Tech struggled to close in the green.

These retail sales numbers may have boosted optimism about

the U.S. economy - the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow Q2 tracking estimate

rose to 2.5% from 2.0% - but not world oil prices. Worries over

weak demand from China pushed oil to a one-month low.

Japanese markets are up and running again after Monday's

holiday. Bond yields slipped to their lowest in nearly three

weeks, with the 10-year JGB yield down to 1.02% on Tuesday. This

likely contributed to the yen's fall back below 158 per dollar.

Bank of Japan data on Tuesday suggested that Tokyo may have

spent an additional 2.14 trillion yen ($13.5 billion) on foreign

exchange market intervention to shore up the yen on Friday. This

would follow the estimated 3.37-3.57 trillion yen spent

intervening on Thursday.

According to International Monetary Fund Chief Economist

Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the Bank of Japan's biggest challenge

is not maintaining the yen's value but maintaining price

stability and keeping inflation within its target.

Gourinchas was speaking after the IMF cut Japan's economic

growth forecast due to temporary auto output disruptions and

weak private investment in the first quarter, but welcomed

recent bumper pay hikes that should lift household incomes.

The IMF's outlook for China was the exact opposite. The IMF

significantly hiked its 2024 and 2025 growth forecasts to 5.0%

and 4.5%, respectively. But perhaps unsurprisingly, given

Monday's alarmingly weak Q2 data, Gourinchas said risks are very

much to the downside.

Little wonder that bond yields and the yuan remain under

constant downward pressure, and investors will be hoping the

ruling Communist Party's third plenum offers concrete signs that

further support for the economy is coming.

Here are key developments that could provide more direction

to markets on Wednesday:

- Indonesia interest rate decision

- New Zealand inflation (Q2)

- China's third plenum