Australia Data Due On Friday

(RTTNews) - Australia will on Friday release Q1 figures for producer prices and March numbers for retail sales, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

Producer prices were up 0.8 percent on quarter and 3.7 percent on year in the three months prior, while retail sales rose 0.2 percent on month in February.

Japan will see March figures for unemployment and April data for monetary base. The jobless rate is called steady at 2.4 percent, while the jobs-to-applicant ratio is expected to tick higher to 1.25 from 1.24 in February. The monetary base is tipped to fall 2.0 percent on year after dropping 3.2 percent in March.

South Korea will provide April numbers for consumer prices, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.1 percent on month and 2.1 percent on year. That follows the 0.2 percent monthly increase and the 2.1 percent annual increase in March.

New Zealand will see March data for building permits; in February, permits were up 0.7 percent on month.

Hong Kong will release preliminary Q1 figures for gross domestic product and March data for retail sales. In the previous quarter, GDP was up 0.8 percent on quarter and 2.4 percent on year, while sales tumbled an annual 13.0 percent in February.

Indonesia will provide April numbers for consumer prices; in March, overall inflation was up 1.65 percent on month and 1.03 percent on year, while core CPI rose an annual 2.48 percent.

A number of the regional nations will see April results for their respective manufacturing PMIs from S&P Global, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

Finally, the markets in China remain closed on Friday for Labor Day.