Korea Rate Decision On Tap For Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Bank of Korea will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Thursday and then announce its decision on interest rates, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

The bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at the record low 1.25 percent.

New Zealand will release September figures for food prices and October results for the consumer confidence index from ANZ.

In August, food prices were up 1.2 percent on month and 0.5 percent on year. In September, the ANZ index picked up 2.8 percent to a score of 121.0.

Japan will provide August numbers for its tertiary industry index and September data for bank lending.

The tertiary index is expected to slip 0.2 percent on month after rising 0.3 percent in July. Bank lending climbed 2.0 percent on year in August.

China will see September numbers for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to gain 5.5 percent on year after rising 10.8 percent in August. Exports are called lower by 3.3 percent after slipping 2.8 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $53.0 billion, up from $52.05 billion a month earlier.