CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Japan is scheduled to release a raft of data on Friday, headlining a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are February figures for unemployment, retail sales, industrial production and housing starts, as well as March numbers for Tokyo inflation.
The jobless rate is called steady at 2.5 percent, while the job-to-applicant ratio is also tipped as unchanged at 1.63. Retail sales are called higher by 0.8 percent on month and 0.9 percent on year after sliding 2.3 percent on month and gaining 0.6 percent on year in January.
Industrial production is expected to rise 1.3 percent on month and sink 1.2 percent on year after tumbling 3.4 percent on month and adding 0.3 percent on year in January. Housing starts are tipped to ease 0.1 percent on year after climbing 1.1 percent in the previous month.
Overall Tokyo area consumer prices are predicted to rise 0.9 percent on year, up from 0.6 percent in February. Core CPI is called steady at 1.1 percent.
New Zealand will provide building permit data for February; in January, permits surged 16.5 percent on month.
Australia will see February figures for private sector credit; in January, credit was up 0.2 percent on month and 4.3 percent on year.
South Korea will release February numbers for industrial production and retail sales. In January, industrial production added 0.5 percent on month and 0.1 percent on year, while retail sales gained 0.2 percent on month and 4.0 percent on year.
Singapore will provide February figures for producer prices; in January, producer prices were down 1.4 percent on month and 1.9 percent on year.
The Philippines also will see February PPI numbers; in January, producer prices jumped 5.8 percent no month and 4.3 percent on year.
Thailand will release February data for imports, exports and trade balance. In January, imports were worth $19.34 billion and exports were at $19.40 billion for a trade surplus of $60 million.
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