Japan Rate Decision On Tap For Friday

(RTTNews) - The Bank of Japan will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Friday and then announce its decision on interest rates, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The BoJ is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 0.50 percent.

Japan also will see August numbers for consumer prices; in July, overall inflation was up 0.1 percent on month and 3.1 percent on year, while core CPI rose 0.2 percent on month and 3.1 percent on year.

New Zealand will release August data for imports, exports and trade balance; in July, imports were worth NZ$7.28 billion and exports were at NZ$6.71 billion for a trade deficit of NZ$578 million.

Malaysia will provide August figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In July, imports were up 0.6 percent on year and exports rose an annual 6.8 percent for a trade surplus of MYR15.00 billion.