Japan Industrial Production Data Due On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - Japan will on Wednesday release April figures for industrial production, headlining a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. Output is expected to rise 0.5 percent on month, easing from 1.1 percent in March.

Japan also will see April data for retail sales, housing starts and construction orders, as well as May results for its household confidence index. Sales are expected to climb 5.8 percent on year after rising 6.9 percent in March.

Housing starts are tipped to fall an annual 4.3 percent after shedding 3.2 percent in the previous month. Construction orders are seen higher by 3.7 percent on year after dropping 4.1 percent a month earlier. The household confidence index is pegged at 36.1, up from 35.4 in April.

New Zealand will see May results for the business confidence index from ANZ Bank, with forecasts suggesting a score of -43.4 after showing 43.8 in April.

Australia will release Q1 numbers for construction work done and April data for private sector credit. Construction work is expected to add 1.5 percent on quarter after easing 0.4 percent in the previous three months. Credit is called steady at 0.3 percent on month.

South Korea will provide April numbers for industrial production and retail sales. Output is expected to sink 0.9 percent on month and 7.3 percent on year after rising 5.1 percent on month and falling 7.6 percent on year in March. Sales are expected to add 0.8 percent on month, accelerating from 0.4 percent in March.

China will see May results for its manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite PMIs. In April, their scores were 49.2, 56.4 and 54.4, respectively.

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

Thailand also will see April numbers for industrial production, current account, imports, exports and trade balance. Industrial production is expected to slip 2.00 percent on year after falling 4.56 percent in March.

The current account surplus in March was $4.80 billion, while imports were down 5.7 percent on year and exports slumped 5.8 percent for a trade surplus of $4.30 billion.