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 November numbers for industrial production, retail sales and unemployment, plus December data for Tokyo inflation.

Industrial production is called lower by 1.1 percent on month and 8.3 percent on year after sliding 4.5 percent on month and 7.7 percent on year in October. Retail sales are expected to jump 5.0 percent on month and fall 1.4 percent on year after tumbling 14.4 percent on month and 7.1 percent on year in the previous month.

The jobless rate is tipped to hold steady at 2.4 percent, while the job-to-applicant ratio is also called unchanged at 1.57. Overall Tokyo inflation is called higher by 0.9 percent on year after rising 0.8 percent in November. Core CPI is called steady at 0.6 percent.

Singapore will see producer price numbers for November; in October, prices were up 0.3 percent on month and down 7.8 percent on year.

The Philippines also will release November numbers for producer prices; in October, prices were down 0.7 percent on month and 0.4 percent on year.