Asian session: The euro fell

00:30 Australia Unemployment rate January 5.4% 5.5% 5.4%

00:30 Australia Changing the number of employed January -3.8 +6.1 +10.4

00:30 Australia NAB Quarterly Business Confidence IV quarter -4 -5

05:00 Japan Leading Economic Index December 92.1 93.8 93.4

05:00 Japan Coincident Index December 90.2 92.6 92.7

The euro fell to within 0.4 percent of a one-week low versus the dollar before European Central Bank policy makers meet today amid political turmoil that threatens to renew the region’s sovereign-debt crisis. The ECB, which has held its main refinancing rate at 0.75 percent since July, will make no change today, according to all 60 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. ECB President Mario Draghi may make more dovish remarks, according to analysts.

The 17-nation currency weakened from its highest since April 2010 against the yen before Spain prepares to auction bonds today amid calls for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to resign. Prime Minister Rajoy faced calls to step down amid contested reports of corruption in his party. He has imposed the harshest austerity measures in Spain’s democratic history to curb the budget deficit and lower borrowing costs.

The yen rose as declining Asian stocks spurred haven demand.

The New Zealand fell after reports pointed to weak employment trends in country.  Payrolls slumped 1 percent, or 23,000 jobs, in the final three months of 2012, the statistics bureau said today. The workforce participation rate reached the lowest in eight years.

Australia’s currency weakened for a second day against the yen after the statistics bureau said employers cut 9,800 full- time positions in January even as the jobless rate remained unchanged at 5.4 percent.

EUR/USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $1.3500.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $1.5645.