Japan Trade Data On Tap For Wednesday

(RTTNews) - Japan will on Wednesday release November numbers for imports, exports and trade balance, highlighting a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic activity.

Imports are expected to add 1.7 percent on year after rising 3.1 percent in October. Exports are called higher by 7.0 percent after spiking 9.6 percent in the previous month. The trade balance is expected to show a deficit of 982.8 billion yen after posting a shortfall of 977.5 billion yen a month earlier.

Japan also will see final November figures for machine tool orders; the preliminary reading suggested an increase of 36.6 percent on year.

Australia will provide November numbers for skilled vacancies, as well as for the Westpac leading index. In October, vacancies were flat on month, while the leading index inched 0.03 percent higher.

The central bank in Thailand will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and announce its decision on interest rates, with the bank expected to keep its benchmark unchanged at 2.00 percent.

Malaysia will release November figures for consumer prices; in October, CPI was up 0.5 percent on month and 2.8 percent on year.

Singapore will see trade figures for November; in October, imports were worth SGD40.06 billion and exports were at SGD44.30 billion for a trade surplus of SGD4.24 billion.