2021.07.2922:00:00UTC+00Japan Data Due On A Busy Friday

Japan is scheduled to release a raft of data on Friday, headlining a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are June numbers for unemployment, industrial production, retail sales, housing starts and construction orders.

The jobless rate is expected to hold steady at 3.0 percent, while the jobs-to-applicant ratio is expected to tick up to 1.10 from 1.09 in May.

Industrial production was down 5.9 percent on month and up 21.1 percent on year in May, while retail sales were down 0.4 percent on month and up 8.2 percent on year. Housing starts rose an annual 9.9 percent in June and construction orders gained 7.4 percent on year.

Australia will see Q2 numbers for producer prices and June figures for private sector credit. In Q1, producer prices were up 0.4 percent on quarter and 0.2 percent on year. In May, credit gained 0.4 percent on month and 1.9 percent on year.

The Philippines will release June figures for producer prices; in May, prices were down 4.3 percent on year.

New Zealand will provide June data for building permits; in May, permits were down 2.8 percent on month.

South Korea will release June figures for industrial production and retail sales. In May, industrial production was down0.7 percent on month and up 15.6 percent on year, while retail sales were down 1.8 percent on month and up 3.1 percent on year.

Singapore will see June numbers for bank lending and Q2 data for unemployment and business confidence. In May, lending was worth $693.7 billion. In Q1, the jobless rate was 2.9 percent and the business confidence index score was +38.

Taiwan will release an advance estimate for Q2 gross domestic product, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 6.05 percent on year following the 8.92 percent spike in the previous three months.

Hong Kong will provide an advance estimate for Q2 gross domestic product; in the three months prior, GDP was up 5.4 percent on quarter and 7.9 percent on year.

Thailand will see May figures for retail sales and June data for current account and for its coincident index. In April, retail sales jumped 31.5 percent on year. In June, the current account deficit was $2.6 billion, while the coincident index had a score of 127.82.