Japan Data Deluge Due On 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 October figures for unemployment, industrial production, housing starts and construction orders, as well as November numbers for its consumer confidence index and for Tokyo inflation.

The jobless rate is expected to hold steady at 2.3 percent, while the job-to-applicant ratio is called to inch up to 1.65 from 1.64 in September. Industrial production is tipped to gain 1.2 percent on month and 2.5 percent on year after falling 0.4 percent on month and 2.5 percent on year in the previous month.

Housing starts are predicted to dip 0.1 percent on year after sliding 1.5 percent a month earlier. Construction orders climbed an annual 1.0 percent in September.

The consumer confidence index is tipped to show a score of 43.2, up from 43 in October. Overall Tokyo inflation is pegged at 1.1 percent, slowing from 1.5 percent in October, while core CPI is called steady at 1.0 percent.

New Zealand will see October numbers for building permits and November results for the consumer confidence index from ANZ. In September, building permits sank 1.5 percent on month. The consumer confidence index slid 1.9 percent to a score of 115.4 in October.

China will see November numbers for its manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite PMIs. The manufacturing index is expected to hold steady at 50.2, while the non-manufacturing index is predicted to ease to 53.8 from 53.9 in October. The composite index came in at 53.1 in the previous month.

Australia will release October data for private sector credit, which is expected to hold steady at 0.4 percent on month and 4.6 percent on year.

The Bank of Korea will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.50 percent.

South Korea also will see October data for industrial production and retail sales. In September, output was down 2.5 percent on month and 8.4 percent on year, while sales fell 2.2 percent on month and added 0.5 percent on year.

Hong Kong will provide October numbers for retail sales; in September, sales were up 1.4 percent on year.

Thailand will release October trade data and Q3 numbers for current account. In September, imports were worth $18.74 billion and exports were at $20.71 billion for a trade surplus of $1.96 billion. The current account surplus in Q2 was $6.41 billion.