New Zealand Rate Decision On Tap For Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Reserve Bank of New Zealand will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Wednesday and then announce its decision in interest rates, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The central bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.75 percent.

The RBNZ also will release its quarterly two-year inflation forecast; the previous reading pegged consumer prices higher by 2.03 percent.

Japan will provide January figures for producer prices, with forecasts suggesting a decline of 0.2 percent on month and a gain of 1.0 percent on year. That follows the 0.6 percent monthly contraction and the 1.5 percent annual increase in December.

Australia will see February results for the consumer confidence index from Westpac; in January, the index sank 4.7 percent to a score of 99.6.

Indonesia will release January numbers for imports, exports and trade balance. In December, imports were worth $15.28 billion and exports were at $14.18 billion for a trade deficit of $1.1 billion.