China Data Due On Monday

(RTTNews) - China will on Monday release a batch of data on Monday, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are Q4 figures for gross domestic product and December data for industrial production, retail sales, fixed asset investment, house prices and unemployment.

GDP is expected to rise 1.0 percent on quarter and 4.5 percent on year, easing from 1.1 percent on quarter and 4.8 percent on year in Q3. Industrial production is ripped to gain 5.1 percent on year, up from 4.8 percent in November. Retail sales are seen higher by an annual 1.1 percent, easing from 1.3 percent in the previous month.

Fixed Asset Investment is expected to sink 3.1 percent on year after slipping 2.6 percent a month earlier. House prices are expected to shed2.0 percent on year after losing 2.4 percent in November. The jobless rate is pegged at 5.2 percent, up from 5.1 percent a month earlier.

Japan will see November numbers for core machinery orders and its tertiary industry index. Machinery orders are expected to decline 5.2 percent on month and a gain of 4.9 percent on year. That follows the 7.0 percent monthly gain and the 12.5 percent annual gain in October. The tertiary industry index had a score of -0.7 in October.

Australia will see December results for the inflation gauge from the Melbourne Institute; in November, the index was up 0.3 percent on month.