China Inflation On Tap For Thursday

(RTTNews) - China will on Thursday release February figures for consumer and producer prices, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

Consumer prices are expected to rise 1.8 percent on year, unchanged from the January reading. Producer prices are tipped to contract an annual 4.9 percent after slipping 5.3 percent in the previous month.

The Bank of Korea will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 1.50 percent.

Japan will provide February data for producer prices, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 0.3 percent on month and 3.4 percent on year. That follows the 0.9 percent monthly contraction and the 3.1 percent yearly decline.