Japan Rate Decision On Tap For Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Bank of Japan will wrap up its two-day monetary policy meeting on Wednesday, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

The central bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark interest rate on hold at the record low of 0 to 0.10 percent.

Japan also will see final November numbers for its leading and coincident indexes, as well as November data for its all activity industry index, and December figures for machine tool orders, supermarket sales and Tokyo condominium sales.

Little change is expected from the preliminary readings for the leading and coincident indexes, which were scores of 103.8 and 1.8.9, respectively. The all industry index is tipped to add 0.1 percent on month after easing 0.1 percent in October.

The preliminary reading for machine tool orders suggested a spiked of 33.8 percent on year. Supermarket sales dipped 0.7 percent on year in November, while condo sales tumbled an annual 33.3 percent.

Australia will see January results for the consumer confidence index from Westpac; in December, the index dropped 5.7 percent to a score of 91.1.

New Zealand will release consumer price numbers for the fourth quarter of 2014, with forecasts suggesting a flat reading on quarter and a gain of 0.9 percent on year. That follows the 0.3 percent quarterly increase and the 1.0 percent yearly gain in the previous three months.

Malaysia will provide December numbers for consumer prices, with forecasts calling for a gain of 2.8 percent on year and no change on month. That follows the 3.0 percent yearly increase and the 0.5 percent monthly gain in November.