Asian session review: the dollar rose against most currencies

During today's Asian trading, the US dollar rose against the euro and the yen after the end of the US Federal Reserve meeting the day before.

The Fed kept the interest rate in the range from 0% to 0.25% per annum. The decision coincided with the forecasts of economists and market participants. In addition, the Federal Reserve raised its forecasts for US GDP growth for 2021 and 2022. According to the regulator's March forecast, US GDP will increase by 6.5% this year and by 3.3% next year. In December, the Fed expected GDP to increase by 4.2% and 3.2%, respectively.

The ICE index, which tracks the dynamics of the dollar against six currencies (euro, swiss franc, yen, canadian dollar, pound sterling and swedish krona), rose by 0.15%.

Investors are also waiting for the results of the meetings of the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England this week.

The Bank of Japan, most likely, according to the results of the meeting, which will be known on Friday, will keep the short - term interest rate on deposits of commercial banks in the Central Bank at -0.1% per annum, the target yield of ten-year government bonds of Japan-about zero, economists say. Investors are also awaiting the release of the results of the Bank of Japan's largest monetary policy review since 2016.

The Bank of England today is likely to leave the key rate at 0.1% and will not make changes to the asset purchase program, experts predict.

The Australian dollar rose 0.25% against the US dollar on the back of data on the Australian labor market. Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 5.8% in February from 6.4% a month earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said. This is the lowest figure since March last year, that is, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.