Japan Interest Rate Decision On Tap For Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates, highlighting a busy day in Asia-Pacific economic activity. The BoJ is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at -0.1 percent.

Japan also will see December figures for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to sink 14.0 percent on year after falling 11.1 percent in November. Exports are called higher by an annual 2.4 percent after slipping 4.2 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at 942.8 billion yen, up from 366.8 billion yen a month earlier.

Australia will see December numbers for unemployment and also see January's inflation forecast from TD Securities.

The jobless rate is pegged at 6.7 percent, down from 6.8 percent in November. The economy is tipped to add 50,000 jobs following the increase of 90,000 in the previous month. The inflation forecast in December came in at 3.5 percent.

The Philippines will provide December data for imports, exports and trade balance. In November, imports were down 18.9 percent on year and exports rose an annual 3.0 percent for a trade deficit of $1.73 billion.

Hong Kong will see December data for consumer prices; in November, inflation was down 0.2 percent on year.

The central bank in Indonesia will conclude its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates. The central bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 3.75 percent.