Malaysia Industrial Production On Tap For Thursday

(RTTNews) - Malaysia will on Thursday release December figures for industrial and manufacturing production, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

Industrial output is expected to rise 1.2 percent on month and 0.5 percent on year after falling 1.1 percent on month and climbing 1.8 percent on year in November. Manufacturing production was down 1.1 percent on month and up 4.1 percent on year in November.

South Korea will provide unemployment figures for January, with forecasts suggesting that the jobless rate will hold steady at 3.4 percent.

The central bank in the Philippines will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates. The bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 4.0 percent.

Finally, the markets in Taiwan and china remain closed for the Lunar New Year, while Japan is also off for National Foundation Day.