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 figures for inflation, household spending, and unemployment and retail sales.

Overall inflation is expected to rise to 3.7 percent from 3.4 percent in April, while core CPI is called at 3.4 percent from 3.2 percent a month earlier.

Household spending is tipped to decline 2.1 percent on year after shedding 4.6 percent in the previous month. The jobless rate is called steady at 3.6 percent.

Retail sales are projected to add 2.8 percent on month but fall 2.0 percent on year. That follows the 13.6 percent monthly plunge and the 4.3 percent yearly decline in April.

New Zealand will provide May numbers for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to come in at NZ$4.23 billion - up from NZ$3.96 billion in April. Exports are called at NZ$4.50 billion, unchanged from the previous month. The trade balance is expected to show a surplus of NZ$250 million, down from NZ$534 million a month earlier.

China will see May data for industrial profits; in April, profits were up 9.6 percent on year and 10.0 percent year to date.

South Korea will release May numbers for current account and industrial production. In April, the current account surplus was $9.81 billion, while output added 0.1 percent on month and 2.4 percent on year.

Singapore will provide producer price data for May; in April, prices were up 0.4 percent on month and 1.4 percent on year.