Japan Industrial Production On Tap For Thursday

(RTTNews) - Japan will on Thursday release preliminary October data for industrial production, setting the pace for a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic activity. Industrial output is expected to rise 1.8 percent on month and 7.2 percent on year after falling 1.0 percent on month and gaining 2.6 percent on year in September.

Japan also will see October figures for vehicle production, housing starts and construction orders. Housing starts are expected to fall 2.8 percent on year to 950,000 after sliding 2.9 percent in September to 952,000.

Vehicle production was up 1.7 percent on year in September, while construction orders plummeted 11.6 percent.

China will see November numbers for its manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs; in October, their scores were 51.6 and 54.3, respectively.

The central bank in South Korea will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates, with the bank widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.25 percent.

South Korea also will see October numbers for industrial production and retail sales. Output is expected to add 0.6 percent on month and 6.1 percent on year after gaining 0.1 percent on month and 8.4 percent on year in September. Retail sales were up 3.1 percent on month and 8.3 percent on year in September.

Australia will provide October numbers for private sector credit and building approvals, plus Q3 data for private capital expenditure.

Private sector credit is expected to add 0.4 percent on month and 5.3 percent on year after gaining 0.3 percent on month and 5.4 percent on year in September.

Building approvals are expected to sink 1.0 percent on month and surge 14.1 percent on year after adding 1.5 percent on month and 0.2 percent on year in the previous month. Capex is expected to rise 1.0 percent on quarter after adding 0.8 percent in Q2.

New Zealand will see November results of the activity outlook and business confidence indexes from ANZ; in October, their scores were 22.2 and -10.1, respectively.

Hong Kong will provide October figures for retail sales - which are expected to rise 6.2 percent on year after gaining 5.5 percent in September.

Thailand will release Q3 data for current account and October trade data. In the third quarter, the current account surplus was $8.32 billion and the financial account deficit was $6.89 billion. In September, imports were worth $16.47 billion and exports were at $21.87 billion for a trade surplus of $5.40 billion.

Malaysia will see October numbers for producer prices; in September producer prices were up 1.1 percent on month and 6.0 percent on year.