Asian session: The dollar dropped against most major peers

00:01 United Kingdom Rightmove House Price Index (MoM) February -0.8% +4.1%

00:01 United Kingdom Rightmove House Price Index (YoY) February +0.4% +1.4%

05:00 Japan Leading Economic Index December 94.3 94.0

05:00 Japan Coincident Index December 93.2 93.6

The dollar dropped against most major peers as Asian shares climbed on Chinese measures to sustain economic growth, curbing demand for refuge assets. People’s Bank of China announced a cut to banks’ reserve requirements.

The euro rose for a third day against the greenback before European finance ministers meet to discuss a second aid package for Greece.  Euro-area finance ministers are set to meet in Brussels to seek agreement on a 130 billion-euro ($172 billion) Greek bailout. Talks on Greece’s second aid package in two years will aim to reconcile demands made on Greek politicians, a debt swap among private creditors, the role of the European Central Bank and concerns the measures won’t bear fruit.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti on Feb. 17 expressed confidence that ministers will resolve open questions. Should they fail to back the bailout at the Brussels meeting, the issue could be pushed to the next European Union summit on March 1.

The yen dropped against 14 of its 16 major peers. A government report showed Japan’s exports fell in January as the currency traded near a record high and amid weaker global demand.

The trade deficit widened to 1.48 trillion yen ($19 billion) and shipments dropped 9.3 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Finance said. The median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a trade gap of 1.46 trillion yen and a 9.4 percent decline in exports. Standard and Poor’s today affirmed Japan’s sovereign-debt rating at AA- while maintaining a negative outlook and warning that a downgrade is likely if medium-term growth prospects weaken.

EUR/USD: during the Asian session the pair gain, traded above $1.3200.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session the pair rose.

USD/JPY: during the Asian session the pair gain, updated new month’s high.

With US markets closed for the Presidents' Day holiday, there is a light DATA calendar Monday. At 0745GMT, the French manufacturing and service sector sentiment indices are released. Following on, at 0900GMT, the Italian industrial orders data for December is released. UK data is expected at 0930GMT and sees the release of the January CML Gross Mortgage Lending data. Back on the continent, at 1730GMT, ECB Executive Board member Peter Praet is scheduled to speak on 'Monetary Policy in Times of Crisis' at the International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.