Japan Data Due On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - Japan is scheduled to release a batch of data on Wednesday, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are March figures for industrial production, retail sales, construction orders and housing starts, as well as February results for the leading and coincident indexes.

Industrial production is expected to sink 0.5 percent on month after rising 2.3 percent in February. Sales are seen higher by 3.6 percent on year, up from 1.4 percent in the previous month. Housing starts are seen higher by an annual 0.9 percent, moderating from 2.4 percent a month earlier.

Construction orders are tipped to fall 0.8 percent on year after contracting 3.3 percent in February. The leading index is expected to slip 0.3 percent on month after rising 04 percent in the previous month. The coincident is tipped to rise 0.8 percent on month, up from 0.1 percent a month earlier.

South Korea will provide March numbers for industrial production and retail sales. Production is expected to add 0.2 percent on month and 3.3 percent on year, easing from 1.0 percent on month and 7.0 percent on year in February. Retail sales are seen higher by 0.8 percent on month, easing from 1.5 percent in the previous month.

Australia will see Q1 numbers for consumer prices and March figures for private sector credit. Inflation is expected to climb 0.8 percent on quarter and 2.3 percent on year after adding 0.2 percent on quarter and 2.4 percent on year in the three months prior.

New Zealand will see April results for the business confidence index from ANZ and the activity index from NBNZ; in March, they were at 57.5 and 48.6 percent, respectively.

China will see April results for its manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite PMIs from the National Bureau of Statistics; in March, their scores were 50.5, 50.8 and 51.4, respectively.

Thailand will release March figures for industrial production, current account, imports, exports and trade balance. In February, production was down 3.91 percent on year, while the current account showed a surplus of $5.50 billion. Imports were up 4.1 percent on year and exports jumped 13.9 percent for a trade surplus of $4.40 billion.

The Thai central bank also will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates; the bank is expected to trim its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, to 1.75 percent from 2.00 percent.

Taiwan will provide preliminary Q1 numbers for gross domestic product, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 3.3 percent on year following the 2.9 percent expansion in the previous three months.