RBA Rate Decision On Tap For Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Reserve Bank of Australia is scheduled to wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and then announce its decision on interest rates, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

The central bank is widely expected to trim its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, from 2.25 percent to 2.00 percent.

Australia also will release Q4 numbers for current account and January figures for building approvals. The current account is expected to show a deficit of A$11.0 billion after showing a A$12.5 billion shortfall in the third quarter. Building approvals are tipped to shed 1.8 percent on month and 1.7 percent on year after falling 3.3 percent on month and rising 8.8 percent on year in December.

New Zealand will see February data for its commodity price index; in January, prices dipped 0.9 percent.

Japan will provide January numbers for labor cash earnings and February data for monetary base. Earnings are tipped to add 0.5 percent on year after losing 1.3 percent in December. The monetary base surged an annual 37.4 percent in January.

South Korea will release February numbers for consumer prices; in January, CPI was up 0.5 percent on month and 0.8 percent on year, while core CPI added 0.9 percent on month and 2.4 percent on year.

Hong Kong will provide January numbers for retail sales. By volume, sales are expected to fall 4.5 percent on year after losing 1.3 percent in December. By value, sales are called lower by 6.1 percent after dipping 3.9 percent in the previous month.

Taiwan will release January data for export orders, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 9.7 percent on year - up from 4.5 percent in December.