Bank Of Japan Rate Decision On Tap For 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 B0J is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at -0.1 percent.

New Zealand will release August figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In July, imports were worth NZ$7.77 billion and exports were at NZ$6.68 billion for a trade deficit of NZ$1.092 billion.

The de facto central bank in Taiwan will announce its decision on interest rates, with expectations that it will hike its benchmark from 1.5 percent to 1.625 percent. Taiwan also will see unemployment data for August; in July, the jobless rate was 3.68 percent.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority will conclude its policy meeting on Thursday and announce its decision on interest rates; it's expected to leave its benchmark unchanged at 2.75 percent.

Hong Kong also will see August figures for consumer prices and Q2 data for current account. In July, inflation was up 0.1 percent on month and 1.9 percent on year, while the current account surplus in Q1 was HKD78.5 billion.

The central bank in Indonesia will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and announce its decision on interest rates. It's expected to lift its benchmark lending rate (4.00 percent), deposit facility rate (3.25 percent) and lending facility rate (4.75 percent) all by 25 basis points.

Thailand will provide August figures for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to jump 17.7 percent on year, down from 23.9 percent in July. Exports are called higher by an annual 7.55 percent, up from 4.3 percent in the previous month. The trade deficit is pegged at $3.1 billion following the $3.66 billion shortfall a month earlier.