Japan Rate Decision On Tap For Thursday

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

Japan also will see April data for household confidence, with forecasts suggesting an index score of 33.9 - easing from 34.1 in March.

South Korea will release April numbers for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to rise 2.3 percent on year, steady from March. Exports are called higher by an annual 3.1 percent, up from 3.0 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at 4.99 billion yen, up from 4.92 billion yen a month earlier.

Australia will see March data for imports, exports and trade balance, as well as import and export prices for Q1. In February, imports were up 1.6 percent on month and exports sank 3.6 percent for a trade surplus of A$2.968 billion. Import prices in the previous quarter were up 0.2 percent and export prices rose 3.6 percent.

Finally, the markets in South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Thailand are closed on Thursday for the Labor Day holiday.