Bank Of Japan Interest Rate Decision Due On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Thursday and then announce its decision on interest rates, setting the pace for a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic activity. The BoJ is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 0.25 percent.

Japan will also see September data for industrial production, retail sales, construction orders and housing starts. Industrial output is tipped to add 0.9 percent on month after slipping 3.3 percent in August. Sales are seen higher by an annual 2.1 percent, moderating from 2.8 percent in the previous month. In August, construction orders rose 8.7 percent on year and housing starts fell an annual 5.1 percent.

Australia will release September numbers for building approvals, private sector credit and retail sales, as well as Q3 data for import and export prices.

In August, building consents were down 6.1 percent on month and up 7.9 percent on year, while private sector credit rose 0.5 percent on month. Retail sales are tipped to add 0.3 percent on month, slowing from 0.7 percent in August. In Q2, export prices fell 5.9 percent on quarter and import prices rose 1.0 percent.

South Korea will provide September figures for retail sales and industrial production. Sales are expected to rise 0.5 percent on month after gaining 1.7 percent in August. Industrial output is tipped to add 1.2 percent on month and 0.2 percent on year after rising 4.1 percent on month and 3.8 percent on year in the previous month.

China will see October results for the manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite indexes from the National Bureau of Statistics; in September, their scores were 49.8, 50.0 and 50.4, respectively.

Taiwan will provide preliminary Q3 data for gross domestic product, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 3.4 percent on year following the 5.06 percent gain in the previous three months.

Hong Kong will release preliminary Q3 GDP figures, with forecasts suggesting a flat quarterly reading and am annual increase of 3.1 percent. That follows the 0.4 percent quarterly increase and the 3.3 percent yearly gain in Q2.

Thailand will see September numbers for imports, exports, trade balance and current account. In August, imports were up 8.5 percent on year and exports rose an annual 11.4 percent for a trade surplus of $2.40 billion. The current account showed a surplus of $1.40 billion.

Finally, the markets in Malaysia and Singapore are closed on Thursday got Deepavali and will re-open on Friday.