Australia Inflation On Tap For Wednesday

(RTTNews) - Australia will on Wednesday release inflation data for the fourth quarter of 2013, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic news.

CPI is expected to rise 2.4 percent on year and 0.4 percent on quarter after adding 2.2 percent on year and 1.2 percent on quarter in Q3. The Reserve Bank of Australia's trimmed mean and weighted median are both tipped to add 0.6 percent on quarter and 2.3 percent on year.

Australia also will see January results for the Westpac consumer confidence index; in December, the index dropped 4.8 percent to a score of 105.0.

Japan will see final November results for its leading and coincident indexes; little change is expected from the preliminary scores of 110.8 and 110.5, respectively. The all industry activity index results for November also are due; in October, the index slid 0.2 percent on month.

Also, the Bank of Japan will release its statement on monetary policy, and also provide its monetary base target for 2014.

The central bank of Thailand will conclude its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates, with analysts widely expecting the bank to keep its benchmark on hold at 2.25 percent.

Malaysia will provide November numbers for unemployment and December figures for inflation. The unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in October, with a participation rate of 69.1 percent. CPI is expected to rise 0.1 percent on month and 3.0 percent on year after adding 0.3 percent on month and 2.9 percent on year in November.