China Data On Tap For Wednesday

(RTTNews) - China is scheduled to release a raft of data on Wednesday, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are Q1 numbers for GDP, as well as March data for industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment.

Gross domestic product is expected to rise 7.3 percent on year and 1.5 percent on quarter, slowing from 7.7 percent on year and 1.8 percent on quarter in the previous three months.

Industrial production is called higher by 9.0 percent, up from 8.6 percent in February. Retail sales are tipped to gain 12.1 percent, up from 11.8 percent in the previous month. FAI is called higher by 18.0 percent after rising 17.9 percent a month prior.

New Zealand will provide Q1 data for consumer prices, with analysts looking for an increase of 0.5 percent on quarter and 1.7 percent on year - accelerating from 0.1 percent on quarter and 1.6 percent on year in the previous three months.

Japan will release final February numbers for industrial production, with little change expected from last month's preliminary reading that suggested an increase of 5.9 percent on month and 6.9 percent on year.

Australia will see March results for the Westpac leading index; in February, the index eased 0.1 percent on month.

Malaysia will provide inflation data for March, with analysts expecting a decline of 0.1 percent on month and an increase of 3.4 percent on year. That follows the 0.3 percent monthly gain and the 3.5 percent annual increase in February.