Growth in Japan's services sector softened in July, with the Flash Japan Services PMI Business Activity Index, compiled by S&P Global, falling to 51.9 from 52.2 in June, according to data released on Friday.
A reading above 50 indicates an overall expansion in service sector activity, while a figure below signals a contraction.
The industry witnessed a drop in foreign demand and softer employment growth during the month, according to the survey.
Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained flat at 4.4% in June compared with the previous month, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed Thursday.The consensus forecast was also for 4.4%, according to Trading Economics.The total number of employed people increased by 76,300, bringing the total to 14.8 million."In June, we recorded a 76,000 person rise in employment, driven by a 47,000 person rise in part-time employment," said Sean Crick, the bureau's head of labor statistics.The participation rate rose 0.3 percentage points to 67% compared with the previous month. The underemployment rate, which refers to the share of workers who want and are available to work additional hours, inched up to 6.5% in June from 6.3% in May.The employment-to-population ratio rose 0.3 percentage points to 64%, the report said. Monthly hours worked across all jobs increased by 5 million hours to 2.01 billion hours in June.
Bank Indonesia kept its key interest rates unchanged on Wednesday following the conclusion of its Board of Governors' meeting.The central bank left the 7-day reverse repurchase rate, or BI rate, unchanged at 5.75%, while also maintaining the deposit facility rate at 4.75% and the lending facility (LF) rate at 6.50%.According to a Reuters poll, 20 of 33 economists it surveyed had expected another 25-basis-point (bps) hike, while the rest had predicted no change.In a statement, Bank Indonesia said it is expanding its incentive policy and introducing more measures to increase foreign portfolio inflows, strengthen Rupiah exchange rate stability, and accelerate money market and foreign exchange market deepening.It is also working on increasing liquidity and reducing liquidity segmentation in the money market and banking industry.
South Korea's GDP grew 3.7% year over year in the second quarter, according to an advance estimate released by the Bank of Korea on Thursday.The pace of growth weakened marginally from the 3.8% expansion recorded in the previous quarter, but beat the consensus forecast for a 3.5% expansion, tracked by Investing.com.On a quarter-over-quarter basis, the economy expanded 0.6%, also decelerating from the 1.8% increase in the previous quarter. The latest print, however, was up from the 0.4% consensus forecast.