Australia Rate Decision On Tap For Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Reserve Bank of Australia will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and then announce its decision on interest rates, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The RBA is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 0.10 percent.

Australia also will see October figures for building permits and Q3 data for house prices. Building permits are tipped to sink 12.9 percent in month after sinking 3.9 percent in September. House prices were up 6.7 percent on quarter and 16.8 percent on year in Q2.

Japan will see October data for household spending, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 3.6 percent on month and a decline of 0.6 percent on year. That follows the 5.0 percent monthly increase and the 1.9 percent yearly drop in September.

The Philippines will provide November numbers for inflation and Q4 data for unemployment. In October, overall inflation rose 0.2 percent on month and 4.6 percent on year, while core CPI was up 3.4 percent on year. The jobless rate in Q3 was 6.9 percent.

Taiwan will release November figures for imports, exports, trade balance and inflation. In October, imports were up 37.2 percent on year and exports gained an annual 24.6 percent for a trade surplus of $6.12 billion. Overall inflation was down 0.06 percent on month and up 2.58 percent on year.

China will provide November numbers for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to climb 19.5 percent on year, slowing from 20.6 percent in October. Exports are called higher by an annual 17.2 percent, down from 27.1 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $82.75 billion, down from $84.54 billion a month earlier.