Australia Interest Rate Decision Due On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Reserve Bank of Australia will 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 RBA is widely expected to hike its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, from 3.10 percent to 3.35 percent.

Australia also will see December figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In November, imports and exports both were down 1.0 percent on month, for a trade surplus of A$13.201 billion.

Japan will see December data for household spending and for its leading economic index. Household spending is tipped to rise 0.3 percent on month and ease 0.2 percent on year after slipping 0.9 percent on month and 1.2 percent on year in November. The leading index is expected to show a score of 97.0, down from 97.4 in November.

Malaysia will provide December data for industrial production with forecasts suggesting an increase of 4.5 percent on year, slowing from 4.8 percent in November.

Taiwan will release January numbers for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to sink 10.20 percent on year after losing 11.40 percent in December. Exports are called lower by an annual 13.3 percent after dropping 12.1 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus in December was $4.79 billion.