Japan Data On Tap For Friday
(RTTNews) - Japan is scheduled to release a raft of data on Friday, headlining a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are May numbers for unemployment, industrial production, construction orders and housing starts, as well as June figures for Tokyo inflation.
The jobless rate is expected to hold steady at 2.6 percent, while the jobs-to-applicant ratio is also seen unchanged at 1.26. Industrial output is tipped to add 2.0 percent on month after slipping 0.9 percent in April.
Construction orders jumped 26.4 percent on year in April, while housing starts climbed an annual 13.9 percent. Overall Tokyo inflation was up 2.2 percent on year in May, while core CPI rose 1.9 percent.
South Korea will provide May figures for industrial production and retail sales. Industrial output is expected to add 0.2 percent on month and 3.1 percent on year after rising 2.2 percent on month and 6.1 percent on year in April. Sales are tipped to rise 0.2 percent on month after sinking 1.2 percent in the previous month.
Australia will see May data for private sector credit, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.4 percent on month - easing from 0.5 percent in April.
Thailand will release May numbers for industrial production, current account, imports, exports and trade balance. In April, production was up 3.43 percent on year, while the current account showed a deficit of $0.040 billion. Imports were up 6.4 percent on year and exports added 5.8 percent for a trade surplus of $0.30 billion.
Finally, the markets in New Zealand are closed on Friday for New Year's Day and will re-open on Monday.