Australia Rate Decision On Tap For Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Reserve Bank of Australia will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and then announce its decision on interest rates, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The RBA is widely expected to leave its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 3.60 percent.

Australia also will see October data for building approvals and November results for the indexes of business confidence and business conditions. Approvals are expected to sink 6.4 percent on month and 1.8 percent on year after jumping 12.0 percent on month and falling 1.2 percent on year in September. In October, confidence had a score of +6 and conditions had a score of +9.

Japan will see November numbers for its M2 money stock, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 1.4 percent - down from 1.6 percent in October.

Taiwan will release November figures for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to jump 17.5 percent on year, up from 14.6 percent in October. Exports are called higher by an annual 41.1 percent, easing from 49.7 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $18.50 billion, down from $22.58 billion a month earlier.