Japan GDP On Tap For Thursday

(RTTNews) - Japan is scheduled to release a raft of data on Thursday, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

On tap are final Q4 numbers for gross domestic product, as well as January figures for current account and February data for bank lending, bankruptcies and the eco watchers survey.

GDP is expected to be revised up to 0.2 percent on quarter and 1.0 percent on year from the Feb. 13 preliminary reading that suggested an increase of 0.1 percent on quarter and 0.5 percent on year. In Q3, GDP was up 0.6 percent on quarter and 2.2 percent on year.

The current account is expected to show a surplus of 368.5 billion yen, down from 797.2 billion yen in December.

In January, overall bank lending was up 2.4 percent on year, while bankruptcies gained an annual 4.95 percent.

The eco watcher survey for current conditions is expected to see a score of 50.5, up from 49.9 in January, while the outlook is called at 51.7 - down from 52.4.

China will see February numbers for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to rise 6.5 percent on year, slowing from 36.9 percent in January. Exports are called higher by an annual 10.0 percent, slowing from 11.1 percent in the previous month. The trade balance is expected to swing to a deficit of 8.45 billion from the $20.34 billion surplus a month earlier.

Australia will see January trade data, with forecasts suggesting a surplus of A$200 million - up from the A$1.358 billion deficit in December.

The Philippines will release January data for imports, exports and trade balance. In December, imports were worth $8.74 billion and exports were at $4.72 billion for a trade deficit of $4.02 billion.