RBA Minutes On Tap For Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Reserve Bank of Australia will on Tuesday release the minutes from its monetary policy meeting on March 3, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

At the meeting, the central bank lowered its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, from 0.75 percent to 0.50 percent to support the economy as it responds to the global coronavirus outbreak.

Australia also will see Q4 numbers for house prices, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 4.5 percent on quarter and 3.0 percent on year. That follows the 2.4 percent quarterly gains and the 3.7 percent yearly drop in the three months prior.

New Zealand will see February figures for non-resident bond holdings; in January, holdings were at 52.9 percent.

Japan will release final January numbers for industrial production; the previous reading had production higher by 0.8 percent on month and down 2.5 percent on year.

Hong Kong will provide February data for unemployment; in January, the jobless rate was 3.4 percent.

Singapore will see February figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In January, imports were worth SGD41.21 billion and exports were at SGD42.18 billion for a trade surplus of SGD0.97 billion.