China Inflation Data Due On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - China will on Wednesday release January figures for consumer and producer prices, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

Overall inflation is called flat on year and up 1.0 percent on month after adding 0.2 percent on year and 0.7 percent on month in December. Producer prices are expected to gain an annual 0.4 percent after falling 0.4 percent in the previous month.

Australia will see December figures for building permits and February results for the consumer confidence index from Westpac. Building permits are tipped to spike 10.9 percent on month after adding 2.6 percent in November. In January, the consumer confidence index sank 4.5 percent to a score of 107.0.

Japan will see January data for producer prices, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.4 percent on month and a decline of 1.6 percent on year. That follows the 0.5 percent monthly increase and the 2.0 percent yearly drop in December.

South Korea will see January unemployment data; in December, the jobless rate was 4.6 percent.

Finally, the markets in Taiwan remain closed for the Lunar New Year and are off until Feb. 17.