Japan Rate Decision On Tap For Wednesday

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

Japan also will see November numbers for core machine orders and industrial production. Core machine orders are tipped to sink 0.9 percent on month and rise 2.4 percent on year after adding 5.4 percent on month and 0.4 percent on year in October. Industrial production was down 3.2 percent on month and up 3.0 percent on year in October.

Malaysia will release December data for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to rise 15.9 percent on year, up from 15.6 percent in November. Exports are called higher by an annual 9.0 percent, slowing from 15.6 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at MYR26.0 billion, up from MYR22.3 billion a month earlier.

Taiwan will see Q4 numbers for gross domestic product, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 1.30 percent on year, slowing from 4.01 percent in the three months prior.

Finally, the markets in Taiwan are off through January 30 for the Lunar New Year holiday.