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 2, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

At the meeting, the bank voted to leave its cash rate and asset purchase program unchanged and indicated that it will not raise the rate until inflation returns to the target range.

The policy board held its cash rate at a record low of 0.10 percent, while it also maintained the target yield on the 3-year Australian government bond at around 0.1 percent and the parameters of the Term Funding Facility and the bond purchase program.

Australia also will see Q4 figures for house prices; in the previous three months, house prices were up 0.8 percent on quarter and 4.5 percent on year.

Japan will see final January numbers for industrial production; the previous reading suggested a decline of 1.0 percent on month and 2.6 percent on year, while capacity utilization was up 0.8 percent.

South Korea will provide February data for import and export prices. In January, import prices were down 6.7 percent on year and export prices dipped 2.3 percent.

Hong Kong will see February figures for unemployment, with forecasts suggesting a jobless rate of 7.5 percent - up from 7.0 percent in January.