BoJ Minutes On Tap For Wednesday
(RTTNews) - The Bank of Japan will on Wednesday release the minutes from its monetary policy meeting on April 25-26, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.
At the meeting, the central bank left its key interest rate unchanged near zero and the bank's latest projections showed the underlying inflation staying around 2 percent that further damped expectations for aggressive tightening in future.
The BoJ policy board, headed by Governor Kazuo Ueda, unanimously decided to hold the overnight interest rate at around 0 to 0.1 percent. The board also voted to keep its bond purchase program in line with the decision made at the March meeting.
Japan also will see May data for imports, exports and trade balance. Imports are expected to climb 13.0 percent on year after gaining 8.3 percent in April. Exports are called higher by an annual 10.4 percent after also adding 8.3 percent in the previous month. The trade deficit is pegged at 1.30 trillion yen following the 465.5 billion yen shortfall a month earlier.
New Zealand will release Q1 numbers for current account; in the three months prior, the current account deficit was NZ$7.84 billion.
South Korea will see May figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In April, imports were down 2.0 percent on year and exports jumped an annual 11.7 percent for a trade surplus of $4.96 billion.
Indonesia will provide May figures for imports, exports and trade balance. In April, imports were up 4.62 percent on year and exports rose an annual 1.72 percent for a trade surplus of $3.56 billion.