Japan Data Due On Monday

(RTTNews) - Japan is scheduled to release a batch of data on Monday, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are February figures for industrial production, retail sales, construction orders and housing starts.

Industrial production is expected to rise 1.9 percent on month after dipping 1.1 percent in January. Sales are seen higher by an annual 2.4 percent, easing from 2.4 percent in the previous month. Construction orders were up 12.2 percent on year in January and housing starts fell 4.6 percent.

South Korea will provide February numbers for industrial production and retail sales; in January, industrial production was down 2.3 percent on month and 4.1 percent on year, while sales slipped 0.6 percent on month.

Australia will see February data for private sector credit, with forecasts suggesting a steady reading at 0.5 percent on month.

New Zealand will see March results for the business confidence index from ANZ Bank and the activity index from NBNZ; in January, they were at 58.4 and 45.1 percent, respectively.

China will release March results for its manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite indexes from the National Bureau of Statistics; in February, their scores were 50.2, 50.4 and 51.1, respectively.

Hong Kong will see February data for retail sales; in January, sales were down 3.2 percent on year.

Thailand will provide February numbers for imports, exports, trade balance and current account. In January, imports were up 7.5 percent on year and exports were up 12.9 percent for a trade surplus of $0.40 billion, while the current account surplus was $2.700 billion.

Finally, the market in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia are closed on Monday for Eid-ul-Fitr.