Australia Unemployment Data Due On Thursday

(RTTNews) - Australia will on Thursday release February figures for unemployment, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The jobless rate is expected to ease to 4.1 percent from 4.2 percent in January, with the addition of 37,000 jobs following the gain of 12,900 a month earlier.

New Zealand will provide Q4 figures for gross domestic product, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 3.2 percent on quarter and 3.3 percent on year. That follows the 3.7 percent quarterly contraction and the 0.3 percent annual drop in the previous three months.

Japan will see January numbers for core machine orders, with forecasts calling for a decline of 2.2 percent on month and an increase of 8.1 percent on year. That follows the 3.6 percent monthly increase and the 5.1 percent annual gain in December.

Singapore will release February data for non-oil domestic exports, with expectations for a decline of 0.3 percent on month and an increase of 15.7 percent on year. That follows the 5.0 percent monthly increase and the 17.6 percent annual gain in January.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority will wrap up its discussion on monetary policy and then announce its decision on interest rates; the benchmark currently sits at 0.86 percent. Hong Kong will also see February jobless date; in January, the unemployment rate was 3.9 percent.

The central bank in Indonesia will conclude its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates. The bank is expected to maintain the status quo for its benchmark lending rate (3.50 percent), deposit facility rate (2.75 percent) and lending facility rate (4.25 percent).

The de facto central bank in Taiwan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and announce its decision on interest rates, with forecasts suggesting no move on its benchmark at 1.125 percent.