Australia Rate Decision On Tap For Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Reserve Bank of Australia will on Tuesday conclude its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates, setting the pace for a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic activity.

The RBA is widely expected to keep its benchmark rate on hold at 2.50 percent.

New Zealand will see January results for its commodity price index from ANZ Bank; in December, the index added 1.0 percent.

Japan will release January figures for monetary base; in December, the base surged 46.6 percent on year.

South Korea will provide January data for consumer prices; in December, CPI was up 0.1 percent on month and 1.1 percent on year.

Indonesia will release trade data for December and inflation figures for January. In November, exports were worth $15.93 billion and imports were at $15.15 billion for a trade surplus of $0.78 billion.

In December, overall inflation was up 0.55 percent on month and 8.38 percent on year, while core CPI gained 0.73 percent on month and 7.45 percent on year.

Hong Kong will see retail sales data for December; in November, retail sales climbed 8.5 percent on year.

Finally, some of the regional markets remain closed for the Lunar New Year, including China, Taiwan and Vietnam.