03.05.202122:00:00UTC+00Australia Rate Decision On Tap For Tuesday

The Reserve Bank of Australia will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and then announce its decision on interest rates, highlighting a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. The RBA is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at the record low 0.10 percent.

Australia also will see March figures for imports, exports, trade balance and home loans. In February, imports were up 5.0 percent on month and exports were down 1.0 percent for a trade surplus of A$7.529 billion. Home loans were down 1.8 percent on month and investment lending climbed 4.5 percent.

South Korea will release April figures for consumer prices, with forecasts suggesting an increase of 0.1 percent on month and 2.15 percent on year following the 0.1 percent monthly increase and the 1.5 percent yearly gain in March.

Hong Kong will see March numbers for retail sales; in February, sales surged 31.7 percent on year.

Finally, the markets in Japan (Greenery Day), China (Labor Day) and Thailand (Coronation Day) are closed on Tuesday.