Japan Data On Tap For Friday

(RTTNews) - Japan is scheduled to release a raft of data on Friday, headlining a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are October numbers for inflation, unemployment and household spending, plus Q3 data for capital spending.

Overall nationwide inflation is expected to gain 0.2 percent on year, slowing from 0.7 percent in September. Core CPI is called at 0.8 percent, up from 0.7 percent.

The jobless rate is expected to hold steady at 2.8 percent, while household spending is also expected to be unchanged - lower by 0.3 percent on year.

Capex is expected to gain 3.2 percent, up from 1.5 percent in the three months prior. Excluding software, capex is called at 3.0 percent - up from 0.6 percent.

Australia will see November results for RBA's commodity price index and the Performance of Manufacturing Index from AiG. In October, the commodity index jumped 9.1 percent to a score of 120.9, while the manufacturing index score was 51.1.

South Korea will release November numbers for imports, exports, trade balance and inflation, plus final Q3 figures for gross domestic product.

Imports are expected to add 13.3 percent on year, up from 7.4 percent in October. Exports are called higher by 10.3 percent, up from 7.1 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $8.5 billion, up from 7.327 billion a month earlier.

Inflation is expected to be flat on month and up 1.8 percent on year after easing 0.2 percent on month and rising 1.8 percent on year in October.

GDP is expected to be unrevised from last month's preliminary reading that called for a quarterly gain of 1.4 percent and a yearly increase of 3.6 percent.

Thailand will release November numbers for consumer prices, with inflation expected to rise 1.0 percent on year - up from 0.86 percent in October. Core CPI is called at 0.61 percent, up from 0.58 percent a month earlier.

China will see November results for the Manufacturing PMI from Caixin, with forecasts suggesting no change from the 51.0 reading in October.

Several other regional countries will see November results for their respective manufacturing PMIs from Nikkei, including Japan, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Finally, the markets in Malaysia and Indonesia will be closed on Friday in observance of the birth of the prophet Muhammad. They will re-open on Monday.