Australia Interest Rate Decision Due On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Reserve Bank of Australia will wrap up it monetary policy later today and then announce its decision on interest rates, highlighting a very busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The RBA is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 3.60 percent.

Australia also will provide August figures for building approvals and private sector credit. Building approvals are expected to rise 2.5 percent on month and 8.3 percent on year after slumping 8.2 percent on month and climbing8.3 percent on year in July. Private sector credit is tipped to add 0.6 percent on month, easing from 7 percent in July.

Japan will release August numbers for industrial production, retail sales, construction orders and housing starts. Industrial output is expected to slip 0.7 percent on month after falling 1.2 percent in July. Retail sales are tipped to rise 1.0 percent, up from 0.4 percent in the previous month. In July, housing starts were down 9.7 percent on year and construction orders tumbled an annual 19.0 percent.

China will see September results for the manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs from the National Bureau of Statistics and from Caixin. The NBS manufacturing index is expected to show a score of49.6, up from 49.4 in August, while the non-manufacturing index is expected to hold steady at 50.3. The Caixin manufacturing index is expected to slip to 50.2 from 50.5, while the services PMI is expected to ease to 52.3 from 53.0.

South Korea will provide August numbers for industrial production and retail sales; in July, industrial output was up 0.3 percent on month and 5.0 percent on year, while sales rose 2.5 percent on month.

New Zealand will see September results for the business confidence index from ANZ and the activity index from NBNZ; in August, they were at 49.7 and up 38.7 percent, respectively.

Thailand will release August data for imports, exports, trade balance, current account and industrial production. In July, imports were up 4.5 percent on year and exports rose an annual 9.7 percent for a trade surplus of $2.50 billion. The current account surplus was $2.20 billion, while industrial output sank 3.98 percent on year.