Japan Data On Tap For Wednesday

(RTTNews) - Japan will release a raft of data on Wednesday, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are August figures for industrial production, retail sales, construction orders and housing starts.

Industrial production is expected to rise 1.4 percent on month after slipping 0.2 percent in July. Retail sales are tipped to add an annual 3.3 percent, easing from 4.0 percent in the previous month.

Housing starts are expected to climb 6.9 percent on year, down from 8.2 percent a month earlier. Construction orders were down 13.4 percent on year in July.

South Korea will provide August figures for industrial production and retail sales. In July, production was up 0.2 percent on month and 3.6 percent on year, while sales fell 2.4 percent on month.

China will see September results for the manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite PMIs from the National Bureau of Statistics; in August, their scores were 49.8, 49.0 and 49.5, respectively. China also will see August results for the manufacturing and services indexes from Caixin; they were at 51.5 and 51.4, respectively, in the previous month.

Thailand will release August numbers for imports, exports, trade balance, current account and industrial production. In July, imports were up 35.5 percent on year and exports rose an annual 22.3 percent for a roughly flat trade balance. The current account deficit was $1.600 billion, while industrial output added 0.46 percent on year.

Australia will provide August results for building approvals and private sector credit. In July, approvals were down 3.6 percent on month and up 9.0 percent on year, while credit rose 0.6 percent on month.

New Zealand will s September results for the business confidence index from ANZ and the own activity index from NBNZ; in August, they were at 53.7 and up 48.2 percent, respectively.