Japan Key Machine Orders On Tap For Wednesday

(RTTNews) - Japan will on Wednesday release January numbers for machine orders and February figures for domestic corporate goods prices, highlighting a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic activity.

Machine orders are expected to fall 4.0 percent on month and 1.0 percent on year following the 8.3 percent monthly increase and the 11.4 percent yearly gain in December. Corporate goods prices are called flat on month and up 0.5 percent on year after falling 1.3 percent on month and rising 0.3 percent on year in January.

China will provide February figures for industrial production, retail sales and fixed asset investment. Industrial output is expected to add 7.7 percent on year, down from 8.3 percent a month earlier. Retail sales are called higher by 11.6 percent, down from 12.0 percent in January. FAI is tipped to gain an annual 15.0 percent, down from 15.7 percent in the previous month.

Australia will release January data for home loans and March scores for consumer confidence from Westpac. Home loans are tipped to ease 2.0 percent after gaining 2.7 percent in December. The Westpac index is expected to climb 8.0 percent to a score of 100.7.

The central bank in Thailand will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and announce its decision on interest rates. The bank is widely expected to keep rates on hold at 2.00 percent.

The Philippines will see Q4 unemployment data; in the third quarter, the jobless rate was 6.0 percent and the participation rate was 64.3 percent.