Australia Inflation Data Due On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - Australia will on Wednesday release Q4 numbers for consumer prices, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. Overall inflation is expected to rise 1.6 percent on quarter and 7.5 percent on year after climbing 1.8 percent on quarter and 7.3 percent on year in the previous three months.

The Reserve Bank of Australia's trimmed mean for inflation is expected to rise 1.5 percent on quarter and 6.5 percent on year after gaining 1.8 percent on quarter and 6.1 percent on year in Q3. The weighted median is expected to add 1.4 percent on quarter and 5.5 percent on year after climbing 1.4 percent on quarter and 5.0 percent on year.

New Zealand will see December data for credit card spending; in November, spending was up 16.0 percent on year.

Japan will see December results for its leading and coincident indexes; in November, they were up 0.4 percent and down 1.2 percent, respectively.

Singapore will provide December numbers for consumer prices, with forecasts suggesting an annual increase of 6.6 percent for overall inflation and 5.00 percent for core CPI. That's down from 6.7 percent and 5.10 percent, respectively, in November.

The central bank in Thailand will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to hike its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, from 1.25 percent to 1.50 percent.

Finally, the markets in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong remain closed on Monday for the Lunar New Year holiday, including South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.