CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Japan is scheduled to release a raft of data on Friday, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are December numbers for unemployment, inflation, household spending, industrial production, vehicle production, housing starts and construction orders.
The jobless rate is expected to hold steady at 3.3 percent, while household spending is called lower by 2.5 percent on year after slipping 2.9 percent in November. Inflation is expected to add 0.2 percent on year after rising 0.3 percent in the previous month. Core CPI is called steady at 0.1 percent.
Industrial production is tipped to fall 0.3 percent on month and 0.6 percent on year after losing 0.9 percent on month and rising 1.7 percent on year in November.
Vehicle production advanced 6.0 percent on year in November, while construction orders were up an annual 5.7 percent. Housing starts are expected to add 0.5 percent on year after rising 1.7 percent a month earlier.
Also, the Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates. The central bank is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 0 to 0.1 percent.
Australia will provide December numbers for private sector credit and Q4 data for producer prices.
Private sector credit is expected to add 0.6 percent on month and 6.7 percent on year after adding 0.4 percent on month and 6.6 percent on year in November. Producer prices were up 0.9 percent on quarter and 1.7 percent on year in the three months prior.
South Korea will release December data for industrial production and retail sales. Output was down 2.1 percent on month and 0.3 percent on year in November, while retail sales fell 1.1 percent on month and climbed 5.5 percent on year.
Taiwan will provide preliminary Q4 GDP figures for gross domestic product, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 0.5 percent on month following the 0.63 percent contraction in the third quarter.
Malaysia will provide producer price numbers for December; in November, PPI fell 0.5 percent on month and 3.0 percent on year.
Singapore will release producer price numbers for December; in November, PPI dipped 0.1 percent on month and 0.7 percent on year.
Thailand will see December figures for imports, exports, trade balance and current account. In November, imports were worth $14.92 billion and exports were at $17.01 billion for a trade surplus of $2.09 billion. The current account surplus was $3.00 billion.
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