Australia Interest Rate Decision On Tap For Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Reserve Bank of Australia will on Tuesday conclude its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The RBA is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.50 percent.

Australia also will release December figures for retail sales and trade balance. Retail sales are expected to be flat on month following the 0.4 percent increase in November. The trade surplus is pegged at A$2.225 billion, up from A$1.925 billion in the previous month.

Australia also will see January results for the Performance of Service Index from AiG; in December, the index score was 52.1.

New Zealand will provide January numbers for its commodity price index; in December, prices fell 0.2 percent.

Japan will see January results for the services and composite PMIs from Nikkei; in December, their scores were 51.0 and 52.0, respectively.

Finally, most of the regional bourses are closed on Tuesday for the Lunar New Year, including South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Indonesia.