China Inflation On Tap For Thursday

(RTTNews) - China will on Thursday release January figures for consumer prices, setting the pace for a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic news.

Consumer prices are expected to rise 1.9 percent on year after gaining 1.6 percent in December. Producer prices are tipped to fall 54 percent on year after slipping 5.9 percent in the previous month.

Australia will provide January figures for unemployment, with the jobless rate expected to hold steady at 5.8 percent. The economy is expected to have added 13,000 jobs after shedding 1,000 in December.

New Zealand will see February results for the consumer confidence index from ANZ; in January, the index gained 2.3 percent to a score of 121.4.

Japan will provide January data for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to fall 15.9 percent on year after losing 18.0 percent in December. Exports are called lower by 11.0 percent after dipping 8.0 percent. The trade surplus is pegged at 648.3 billion yen, up from 140.3 billion yen a month earlier.

Malaysia will release Q4 figures for gross domestic product, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 4.1 percent following the 4.7 percent gain in the third quarter. For all of 2015, GDP is expected to have risen 4.9 percent - slowing from 6.0 percent a year earlier.