Asian session review: US dollar down against euro, yen and pound

During today 's Asian trading, the US dollar declined against the euro and yen. At the same time, the US dollar rose to the Australian dollar after keeping the Reserve Bank of Australia base rate at 0.25%.

Eurozone finance ministers are due to hold a videoconference on Tuesday to discuss taking concerted economic action in the pandemic. According to an informed source, eurozone countries are close to reaching an agreement. The video conference participants are likely to approve the opening of a 240 billion euro credit line at the expense of the European Stabilization Mechanism (ESM). At the same time, differences remain about the issue of "crown bonds," said one of the sources.

Meanwhile, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Monday that a state of emergency would be imposed in seven prefectures COVID-19 Japan, including Tokyo, starting Tuesday, due to the coronavirus, for a period of a month. In addition, the Prime Minister promised to allocate approximately 1 trillion yen to offset the damage caused to the Japanese economy by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday announced it was keeping the benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.25%. At the same time, RBA manager Philip Lowe warned that the country is expected to have a "very large economic recession" in the second quarter, and "unemployment will jump to a multi-year high."

The ICE index, which tracks the dollar 's dynamics relative to six currencies (the euro, the Swiss franc, the yen, the Canadian dollar, sterling and the Swedish krona), was down 0.4%.