2019.03.1917:30:00UTC+00Bank Of Japan Minutes Due On Wednesday

The Bank of Japan will on Wednesday release the minutes from its Jan. 23 monetary policy meeting, highlighting a busy day for Asia-Pacific economic activity.

At the meeting, the board maintained interest rate at -0.1 percent on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the bank. It also voted to purchase government bonds so that the yield of 10-year JGBs would remain at around zero percent.

Japan also will see February figures for machine tool orders and convenience store sales. In January, machine tool orders plummeted 29.3 percent on year, while convenience store sales added an annual 0.8 percent.

New Zealand will release Q4 numbers for current account and GDP ratio. The current account is expected to show a deficit of NZ$3.55 billion following the NZ$6.149 billion shortfall in Q3. The GDP ratio is tipped to slide 3.9 percent after falling 3.6 percent in the three months prior.

Australia will see February data for the Westpac leading economic index and for skilled vacancies. In January, the leading index eased 0.01 percent, while vacancies climbed 1.3 percent.

The Bank of Korea will release February figures for producer prices; in January, prices were down 0.2 percent on month and up 0.2 percent on year.

Malaysia will provide February data for consumer prices; in January, inflation fell 0.5 percent on month and 0.7 percent on year.

The central bank in Thailand will wrap up its monetary policy meeting and then announce its decision on interest rates; the bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.75 percent.