Foreign exchange market. Asian session: the Australian dollar advanced

Economic calendar (GMT0):

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

05:00 Japan Consumer Confidence December 42.6 42.3 42.7

The Australian dollar rose against the U.S. dollar after the People's Bank of China intervened and decreased the yuan exchange rate spread in Hong Kong and Shanghai. China is Australia's major trading partner.

The pound climbed ahead of the Bank of England meeting scheduled for Thursday. Analysts surveyed by Reuters don't expect the central bank to raise its interest rates until the second quarter of the current year. However some market participants believe that the BOE will not tighten its monetary policy this year at all. A consensus forecast suggests that the bank may raise its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to 0.75% at the end of June.

The yen little changed on economic data. A report showed that Japan Current account surplus rose to ¥1,143.5 billion in November compared to expectations of ¥858.5 billion.

EUR/USD: the pair rose to $1.0885 in Asian trade

USD/JPY: the pair traded within Y117.40-00

GBP/USD: the pair fell to $1.4520

The most important news that are expected (GMT0):

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

09:30 United Kingdom Industrial Production (MoM) November 0.1% 0.0%

09:30 United Kingdom Industrial Production (YoY) November 1.7% 1.7%

09:30 United Kingdom Manufacturing Production (MoM) November -0.4% 0.1%

09:30 United Kingdom Manufacturing Production (YoY) November -0.1% -0.8%

10:30 Japan BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda Speaks

10:30 U.S. FED Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer Speaks

14:15 United Kingdom BOE Gov Mark Carney Speaks

15:00 United Kingdom NIESR GDP Estimate December 0.6%

15:00 U.S. JOLTs Job Openings November 5.383 5.410