China Data On Tap For Friday

(RTTNews) - China is scheduled to release a batch of data on Friday, headlining a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are April figures for industrial production, retail sales, fixed asset investment and unemployment.

Industrial production is expected to rise 5.4 percent on year, up from 4.5 percent in March. Sales are seen higher by an annual 3.9 percent, up from 3.1 percent in the previous month. FAI is expected to tick up to 4.6 percent from 4.5 percent, while the jobless rate is seen steady at 5.2 percent.

New Zealand will provide Q1 figures for producer prices. Inputs are seen higher by 0.6 percent on quarter, easing from 0.9 percent in the previous three months. Outputs are tipped to rise 0.5 percent on quarter after gaining 0.7 percent in the previous quarter.

Singapore will see April figures for non-oil domestic exports; in March, NODX tumbled 8.4 percent on month and 20.7 percent on year for a trade surplus of SGD4.657 billion.

Malaysia will release Q1 numbers for gross domestic product and current account; in the previous three months, GDP was up 3.0 percent on year and the current account surplus was NYR0.25 billion.

Hong Kong will provide Q1 data for gross domestic product, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 2.3 percent on quarter and 2.7 percent on year. That follows the 0.4 percent quarterly increase and the 4.3 percent yearly gain in the three months prior.