Australia Rate Decision On Tap For 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 keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at the record low of 0.10 percent.

Australia also will release Q3 figures for current account and October data for building permits. The current account is expected to show a surplus of A$7.1 billion, down from A$17.7 billion in the three months prior. Permits are predicted to fall 3.0 percent on month after surging 15.4 percent in November.

Japan will provide October figures for unemployment and Q3 data for capital spending. In September, the jobless rate was 3.0 percent with a jobs-to-applicant ratio of 1.03. Capex tumbled 11.3 percent on year in Q2.

South Korea will release final Q3 GDP numbers and November trade data. GDP is expected to rise 1.9 percent on quarter and fall 1.3 percent on year after sinking 3.2 percent on quarter and 2.7 percent on year in the previous three months.

Imports are tipped to add 0.2 percent on year after falling 5.8 percent in October. Exports are called higher by an annual 6.8 percent after dipping 3.6 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus in October was $5.98 billion.

China will see November results for the manufacturing index from Caixin with forecasts suggesting a score of 53.5, down marginally from 53.6 in October.

Hong Kong will provide October data for retail sales; in September, sales were down 13.4 percent on year.

Indonesia will see Q3 results for business confidence and November numbers for consumer prices. In the second quarter, the business confidence index had a score of 102.90. Inflation is expected to add 0.21 percent on month and 1.53 percent on year after rising 0.07 percent on month and 1.44 percent on year in October. Core CPI is tipped to rise 1.7 percent on year, easing from 1.74 percent in the previous month.

Thailand will see November results for its business confidence index; in October, the index score was 45.4.

Finally, many of the regional areas will see November results for their respective manufacturing PMIs from Markit Economics, including Australia, Indonesia, Japan (Jibun), Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.