Asian session: The New Zealand dollar strengthened

00:01 United Kingdom RICS House Price Balance February -16% -13% -13%

00:30 Australia Home Loans January +2.1% 0.0% -1.2%

00:30 Australia National Australia Bank's Business Confidence February 4 1

03:00 Japan BoJ Interest Rate Decision March 0.10% 0.10% 0.10%

03:00 Japan BoJ Monetary Policy Statement 0

03:00 New Zealand REINZ Housing Price Index, m/m February -1.4% +0.8%

The New Zealand dollar strengthened against all of its 16 major counterparts after reports showed the nation’s house and food prices increased in February. The Real Estate Institute of New Zealand Inc.’s index of house prices increased 0.8 percent to 3,280.5 last month, according to an e-mailed statement released today. The number of transactions rose 37 percent from a year earlier, the institute said. New Zealand’s February food prices climbed 0.6 percent from the previous month, the statistics bureau said today. The country’s two-year swap rate, a fixed payment made to receive floating rates, increased four basis points, or 0.04 percentage point, to 3.05 percent.

The Australian dollar rose for the first time in three days as Asian shares rallied, boosting demand for riskier assets. The number of loans granted to build or buy houses and apartments in Australia dropped 1.2 percent in January from the previous month, the statistics bureau said in Sydney today. That compared with a revised 2.1 percent increase in December and the 0.6 percent decline that was the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Australia’s business confidence index fell last month to 1, the lowest level since September, from 4 in January, according to a National Australia Bank Ltd. survey of more than 500 companies taken Feb. 20-24 and released in Sydney today.

The Reserve Bank of Australia on March 6 held its benchmark interest rates unchanged at 4.25 percent. A Credit Suisse Group AG index based on swaps indicates the RBA will lower rates by 53 basis points over the next 12 months.

The yen erased its loss against the dollar and euro after the Bank of Japan  concluded its policy meeting where it kept its key interest rate and asset-purchase program unchanged.

EUR/USD: during the Asian session the pair gain, come nearer to $1.3200.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session the pair was in range $1.5635-$1.5660.

USD/JPY: during the Asian session the pair fell.

European data for Tuesday also starts at 0630GMT with France HICP data, while France current account data is due at 0745GMT. While the main Germany data release is the ZEW data at 1000GMT. UK data at 0930GMT includes the Trade Balance Report, CML Mortgage Approvals and also Weekly Fuel Price data. Also today, the DCLG House Price Index is due, while at 1000GMT, the UK Conference Board Leading Indicator is due.