Japan Data Due On Friday

(RTTNews) - Japan is scheduled to release a batch of data on Friday, headlining a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are January results for household spending, current account and leading and coincident indexes - as well as February figures for bank lending and the eco watchers survey.

Household spending is expected to rise 0.4 percent on month and fall 4.1 percent on year after slipping 0.9 percent on month and 2.5 percent on year in December. The current account is tipped to show a deficit of 330 billion yen following the 744 billion yen surplus in the previous month.

The leading index was up 2.1 percent on month and the coincident rose 1.3 percent in December. Overall bank lending is seen higher by 3.2 percent on year, up from 3.1 percent in January. The eco watchers survey is seen with a score of 50.6, up from 50.2 a month earlier.

South Korea will see January numbers for current account; in December, the current account surplus was $7.41 billion.

Taiwan will provide February figures for imports, export and trade balance. In January, imports were up 19.0 percent on year and exports rose an annual 18.1 percent for a trade surplus of $2.49 billion.