Japan Industrial Production Data Due On Thursday

(RTTNews) - Japan is scheduled to release preliminary September figures for industrial production, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. Industrial production is predicted to add 0.4 percent on month and fall 0.1 percent on year after sinking 1.2 percent on month and 4.7 percent on year in August.

Japan also will see September numbers for housing starts and construction orders and October results for its consumer confidence index.

Housing starts are tipped to fall 6.7 percent on year after shedding 7.1 percent in August. Construction orders plummeted an annual 25.9 percent in August. The consumer confidence index is tipped to show a score of 35.2, down from 35.6 in September.

China will see October results for its manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite PMIs. In September, the manufacturing PMI had a score of 49.8, the non-manufacturing PMI was at 53.7 and the composite came in at 53.1.

Hong Kong will provide Q3 numbers for gross domestic product; in the three months prior, GDP was down 0.4 percent on quarter and up 0.5 percent on year.

New Zealand will see September figures for building permits and October results for the activity outlook from ANZ. Permits were up 0.8 percent on month in August, while the outlook score was -1.8 and the business confidence index was at -53.5.

Australia will release September figures for building approvals and private sector credit, plus Q3 numbers for import and export prices.

Building approvals are called flat on month and down 25.7 percent on year after falling 1.1 percent on month and 21.5 percent on year in August. Private sector credit is seen higher by 0.3 percent on month and 2.7 percent on year after adding 0.2 percent on month and 2.9 percent on year in the previous month.

Export prices are predicted to fall 0.5 percent on quarter after rising 3.8 percent in Q2. Import prices are called higher by 0.5 percent after gaining 0.9 percent in the three months prior.

South Korea will provide September numbers for industrial production and retail sales; in August, industrial production was down 1.4 percent on month and up 0.2 percent on year, while retail sales climbed an annual 4.1 percent.

Thailand will see September data for imports, exports and trade balance. In August, imports were worth $18.28 billion and exports were at $21.86 billion for a trade surplus of $3.58 billion.

Malaysia will release September numbers for producer prices; in August, prices were up 0.2 percent on month and down 1.9 percent on year.