Japan Data Due On Friday

(RTTNews) - Japan is scheduled to release a batch of data on Friday, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are March figures for household spending and current account as well as April data for bank lending and the Economy Watchers current index.

Household spending is expected to slip 0.3 percent on month and 2.4 percent on year after adding 1.4 percent on month and falling 0.5 percent on year in February. The current account surplus is pegged at 3.489 trillion yen, up from 2.64 trillion yen in the previous month.

Overall bank lending is tipped to rise 3.1 percent on year, slowing from 3.2 percent in March. The Economy Watchers index is expected to show a score of 50.4, up from 49.8 a month earlier.

Malaysia will provide March data for industrial production and unemployment. Industrial production is tipped to add 2.0 percent on year, moderating from 3.1 percent in February. The jobless rate is called steady at 3.3 percent.

Taiwan will release Q1 results for gross domestic product with forecasts suggesting an increase of 6.51 percent on year - up from 4.93 percent in the three months prior.

New Zealand will see April results for the Manufacturing PMI from BusinessNZ; in March, the index score was 47.1.

Finally, the markets in Indonesia remain closed for the Ascension and will re-open on Monday.