Australia Unemployment Data On Tap For Thursday

(RTTNews) - Australia will on Thursday release December data for unemployment, highlighting a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic activity.

The Australian economy is expected to add 11,000 jobs following the addition of 39,900 jobs in November, while the jobless rate is expected to hold steady at 5.2 percent. The participation rate is called unchanged at 66.0 percent.

Australia also will see the inflation forecast for January; in December, the forecast suggest an increase of 4.0 percent on year.

Japan will provide December numbers for import, exports and trade balance. Imports are tipped to slide 2.6 percent on year after plummeting 15.7 percent in November. Exports are called lower by an annual 4.2 percent after sinking 7.9 percent in the previous month. The trade balance is expected to show a deficit of 170.0 billion yen following the 82.1 billion yen shortfall a month earlier.

Japan also will see November numbers for its all industry activity index and for its leading and coincident indexes.

The all industry index is tipped to add 0.4 percent on month after sliding 4.3 percent in October. The previous reading for the leading index was 90.9, while the coincident was at 95.1.

The central bank in Indonesia will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates. The bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 5.00 percent.

Singapore will provide December figures for consumer prices; in November, inflation was up 0.3 percent on month and 0.6 percent on year.