Foreign exchange market. Asian session: U.S. dollar traded broadly lower against its major peers

(Time/ Region/ Event/ Period/ Previous/ Forecast/ Actual)

01:30 Australia Home Loans February -1.7% 3.1 1.2%%

01:30 China PPI y/y March -4.8% -4.7% -4.6%

01:30 China CPI y/y March 1.4% 1.3% 1.4%

02:00 China New Loans March 1020 1050

05:45 Switzerland Unemployment Rate March 3.2% 3.2% 3.4%

The U.S. dollar is trading broadly lower against its major peers. Yesterday's data showed that the number of initial jobless claims in the week ending April 04 in the U.S. rose by 14,000 to 281,000 from 267,000 in the previous week. The previous week's figure was revised up from 268,000. Analysts had expected the number of initial jobless claims to increase to 271,000.Wholesale inventories in the U.S. rose 0.3% in February, missing expectations for a 0.1% gain, after a 0.4% increase in January. January's figure was revised down from a 0.3% rise.

The Australian dollar added small gains against the U.S. dollar - entering the fourth straight day of gains. Data on Home Loans came in at +1.2%, below the estimated growth of +3.1%. The January reading was revised up from -3.5% to -1.7%.

Early in the day Chinese CPI and PPI data for the month of March was reported. Year on year the PPI declined by -4.6%, slightly less than the predicted -4.7% and less than the previous reading of -4.8%. The consumer price inflation in March remained unchanged with a reading of +1.4%. Analyst expected a CPI reading of 1.3%.

New Zealand's dollar booked gains against the greenback during the Asian in the absence of any major economic news.

The Japanese yen traded moderately higher against the greenback in Asian trade.

EUR/USD: the euro traded slightly higher against the greenback

(time / country / index / period / previous value / forecast)

06:45 France Industrial Production, m/m February 0.4% -0.1%

06:45 France Industrial Production, y/y February 0.6%

08:30 United Kingdom Industrial Production (MoM) March -0.1% 0.3%

08:30 United Kingdom Industrial Production (YoY) March 1.3% 0.3%

08:30 United Kingdom Manufacturing Production (MoM) March -0.5% 0.4%

08:30 United Kingdom Manufacturing Production (YoY) March 1.9% 1.3%

12:15 Canada Housing Starts March 156 175

12:30 Canada Employment March -1.0 0.1

12:30 Canada Unemployment rate March 6.8% 6.8%

12:30 U.S. FOMC Member Laсker Speaks

12:30 U.S. Import Price Index March 0.4% -0.4%

14:00 United Kingdom NIESR GDP Estimate March 0.6%

18:00 U.S. Federal budget March -192.3 -43.2