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, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The BoJ is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 0.50 percent.

Japan also will see June figures for industrial production, retail sales and housing starts, as well as July results for its household confidence index. Industrial production is expected to slip 0.7 percent on month after easing 0.1 percent in May.

Retail sales are tipped to rise 1.8 percent, down from 2.2 percent in the previous month. Housing starts are expected to sink 16.3 percent on year after tumbling 34.4 percent a month earlier. The household confidence index is expected to show a score of 35.1, up from 34.5 in June.

South Korea will release June data for industrial production and retail sales. In May, production was down 2.9 percent on month and up 0.2 percent on year, while sales were flat on month.

Australia will provide June figures for building approvals, private sector credit and retail sales, plus Q2 data for import and export prices. Approvals are expected to add 1.8 percent on month and 8.0 percent on year after gaining 3.2 percent on month and 8.0 percent on year in May.

Private sector credit is seen steady at 0.5 percent on month, while retail sales are tipped to gain 0.4 percent on month, up from 0.2 percent a month earlier. In Q1, import prices were up 3.3 percent on quarter and export prices rose 2.1 percent.

China will see July results for the manufacturing, non-manufacturing and composite PMIs from the National Bureau of Statistics; in June, their scores were 49.7, 50.3 and 50.7, respectively.

Singapore will release Q2 numbers for unemployment; in the previous three months, the jobless rate was 2.0 percent.

Thailand will provide June data for industrial production, imports, exports, trade balance and current account. In May, production was up 1.88 percent on year, while imports jumped 19.2 percent on year, exports climbed 18.5 percent on year, the trade surplus was $3.40 billion and the current account deficit was $0.300 billion.

Taiwan will see preliminary Q2 numbers for gross domestic product; in Q1, GDP expanded 5.48 percent on year.

Hong Kong will see preliminary Q2 readings for gross domestic product; in Q1, GDP was up 1.9 percent on quarter and 3.1 percent on year.