Japan's preliminary leading economic index, which gauges the economic outlook for the months ahead against a 2020 base of 100, was flat at 116.4 in June, according to data from the Cabinet Office released Friday.
The latest print was unchanged from May, but surpassed the Trading Economics consensus forecast of 114 points.
The May and June readings mark the highest levels since July 2021.
China's trade surplus narrowed to $112.5 billion in July from $125.62 billion in June, according to data from the General Administration of Customs released Friday.The reading was higher than the consensus forecast of $109.4 billion tracked by Investing.comExports rose 23.9% year over year to $397.9 billion, while imports increased 27.5% to $285.4 billion.
The value of new payments platform transactions in Australia rose nearly 34% year over year to AU$265.8 billion in June, according to new retail payment figures from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released Friday.Total card purchases on Australian-issued cards were up almost 7% to AU$100 billion, with credit and charge cards accounting for AU$40 billion and debit cards for AU$60.1 billion.Meanwhile, the number of new payments platform transactions was up 14% year over year to 173.6 million.The number of total card purchases on Australian-issued cards rose 3.8% annually to 1.41 billion.
The national average asking price in New Zealand remained flat at NZ$866,945 in July, up 1% on last year's NZ$858,371, according to a report by realestate.co.nz released Friday.Central Otago Lakes District recorded the highest year-on-year increase in average asking price at 6.7% to NZ$1.5 million, while Central North Island saw the greatest year-on-year decline of negative 8.7% to NZ$722,699.Data from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand showed residential sales grew year on year in four of the first six months of the year, suggesting that buyers continue to remain active amid economic uncertainty, the report said.Meanwhile, national stock levels increased 9.3% year on year to 33,252 properties in July, with nine regions experiencing double-digit growth.