Japan Data On Tap For Friday

(RTTNews) - Japan is scheduled to release a batch of data on Friday, headlining a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are April numbers for unemployment, industrial production retail sales, construction orders and housing starts, plus May figures for Tokyo inflation.

The jobless rate (2.5 percent) and the jobs/applicant ratio (1.26) are both expected to hold steady. Industrial production is expected to slip 1.4 percent on month after rising 0.2 percent in March. Retail sales are seen higher by 2.9 percent on year, easing from 3.1 percent in the previous month.

Construction orders are expected to fall 0.5 percent on year after adding 3.5 percent in March. Construction orders are tipped to tumble 18.2 percent after surging 39.1 percent a month earlier. In April, Tokyo overall inflation was up 3.5 percent on year and core CPI rose 3.4 percent.

South Korea will release April numbers for industrial production and retail sales. Output is expected to add 0.5 percent on month and 4.2 percent on year after rising 2.9 percent on month and 5.3 percent on year in March. Sales are called flat after shedding 0.3 percent in the previous month.

New Zealand will see April figures for building consents; in March, consents were up 9.6 percent on month.

Australia will release April numbers for building approvals, retail sales and private sector credit. Approvals are expected to rise 3.1 percent on month after slipping 8.8 percent in March. Sales are called steady, higher by .3 percent on month. Credit is also seen unchanged, higher by 0.5 percent on month.

Thailand will provide April data for industrial production, current account, imports, exports and trade balance. In March, industrial production was down 0.66 percent on month, while the current account showed a surplus of $2.30 billion. Imports were up 9.4 percent on year and exports rose 17.7 percent for a trade surplus of $3.40 billion.

Finally, the markets in Taiwan (Dragon Boat Festival) and Indonesia (Ascension) are closed on Friday and will re-open on Monday.