Economic calendar in Asia: A quiet Friday session to wrap up the week

After the fireworks from the Australian jobs report yesterday, the schedule for the Friday Asian session (Thursday evening US time) is looking decidedly thin. We are scraping the bottom of the barrel for data, so don’t expect too many idiosyncratic catalysts to drive the majors.

The action kicks off early in the session at 02:00 GMT with a look at the Australian consumer via the LSEG IPSOS PCSI. While not as closely watched as the Westpac sentiment numbers, it gives us another data point on how the Aussie consumer is holding up under the weight of current rates. The prior read sat at 52.82.

Later on, while Tokyo is lunching, we get the final reads on Japanese Industrial Production at 04:30 GMT.

• Industrial Output (MoM): The preliminary read was 1.4%.

• Capacity Utilization: Prior read was 2.5%.

Unless we see a massive revision here, this is likely to be a non-event for the USD/JPY, which will continue to take its cues from Treasury yields and the broader risk tone.

With a calendar this light, watch for month-end flows or profit-taking as traders square up positions ahead of the weekend.

Here is the schedule for the session (All times GMT):

02:00 GMT

• AU: LSEG IPSOS PCSI (Dec) — Prior: 52.82

04:30 GMT

• JP: Industrial Production Revised (MoM) (Oct) — Prelim: 1.4%

• JP: Industrial Production Revised (YoY) (Oct) — Prelim: 1.6%

• JP: Capacity Utilization (MoM) (Oct) — Prior: 2.5%

The central bank and political speaker list is also bare.

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.