HONG KONG (dpa-AFX) - Thailand is scheduled to release a raft of data on Monday, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic news. On tap are Q4 numbers for GDP, as well as January numbers for imports, exports and trade balance.
GDP is expected to contract 5.0 percent on year following the 3.5 percent increase in the third quarter. Imports are expected to rise 5.8 percent on year following the 19.1 percent surge in December. Exports are called higher by 0.6 percent on year after easing 2.0 percent in the previous month. The trade balance is expected to reflect a deficit of $1.905 billion after posting a shortfall of $2.130 billion a month earlier.
Japan will release January figures for imports, exports, trade balance and store sales, as well as final December numbers for the leading and coincident indexes. Imports are expected to rise 9.6 percent on year after adding 8.1 percent in December. Exports are projected to plunge an annual 9.4 percent after falling 8.0 percent in the previous month. The trade balance is expected to show a deficit of 1.456 trillion yen following the 205.1 billion yen shortfall a month earlier. Little deviation is expected from the preliminary readings for the indexes, which saw the leading come in at 94.3 and the coincident at 93.2.
Taiwan will release January export orders data and Q4 current account figures. Export orders are expected to contract 5.9 percent on year after easing 0.72 percent in December. The current account saw a surplus of $10.21 billion in the third quarter of 2011.
Hong Kong will announce CPI data for January, with analysts expecting the rate to come in at 5.8 percent, up from 5.7 percent in December.
Finally, the stock markets in India will be closed on Monday in observance of Mahasivarathri Day.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX