Japan Industrial Production On Tap For Wednesday

(RTTNews) - Japan is on Wednesday scheduled to release preliminary March numbers for industrial production, setting the pace for a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic activity.

Output is expected to add 0.5 percent on month and 7.2 percent on year after falling 2.3 percent on month and rising 7.0 percent on year in February.

Japan also will see March numbers for housing starts, labor cash earnings, construction orders, vehicle production and small business confidence, as well as April results for the Markit/JMMA manufacturing PMI.

Housing starts are expected to fall 2.9 percent on year after shedding 1.0 percent in February. Construction orders were up 12.3 percent on year in the previous month, while the business confidence index came in with a score of 53.5.

Labor cash earnings were flat in February, while vehicle production gained an annual 7.1 percent. The manufacturing PMI saw a score of 53.9 in March.

South Korea will provide March numbers for industrial production; in February, output was down 1.8 percent on month and up 4.3 percent on year.

Singapore will see Q1 numbers for unemployment; in the previous three months, the jobless rate was 0.4 percent.

Malaysia will release March data for producer prices; in February, PPI was up 1.2 percent on month and 2.6 percent on year.

Australia will provide March numbers for private sector credit, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.4 percent on month and 4.5 percent on year. That follows the 0.4 percent monthly gain and the 4.2 percent yearly increase in February.

New Zealand will see March results for building permits and April scores for business confidence. Permits dipped 1.7 percent on month in February, while the confidence index was up 0.4 percent on month.

Thailand will release March figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In February, imports were worth $14.25 billion and exports were at $18.15 billion for a trade surplus of $3.90 billion.

Finally, the stock markets in Vietnam are closed on Wednesday in observance of Liberation Day. They'll remain closed on Thursday for Labor Day and re-open on Friday.