Bank Of Japan Minutes On Tap For Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Bank of Japan will release the minutes on Thursday from its monetary policy meeting on December 17, highlighting a light day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

At that meeting, the central bank kept its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 0-0.1 percent. It also said to hold its target of raising the monetary base at an annual pace of about JPY 80 trillion.

In addition, the BoJ said it will establish a new program for purchases of exchange-traded funds at an annual pace of about JPY 300 billion, in addition to the current program of ETF purchases.

Thailand will see January results for its consumer confidence index; in December, the index score was 76.1.

Finally, the markets in Taiwan are closed for the start of the long break for the Lunar New Year.