Asian session: The yen weakened versus all of its major counterparts after a Bank of Japan report

01:30 Australia Building Permits, m/m February +0.9% +0.6% -7.8%

01:30 Australia Building Permits, y/y February -14.6% -5.3% -15.2%

The yen weakened versus all of its major counterparts after a Bank of Japan  report showed that sentiment failed to improve at the nation’s largest companies, stoking prospects the central bank will boost monetary stimulus. The Tankan index for Japan’s largest manufacturers was unchanged last quarter from minus 4 in December, the BOJ said today in Tokyo. That was less than the median estimate of minus 1 in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. A negative number means pessimists outnumber optimists. Japan’s currency slid against the dollar and euro as signs that manufacturing is improving in the U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest economies, undermined demand for haven assets. The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index for the U.S. probably rose to 53 last month from 52.4 in February, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg before the report is released today.

The euro maintained a quarterly gain versus the greenback as European governments called for a bigger global financial emergency fund after engineering a firewall to fight the region’s debt crisis.

The Australian dollar climbed versus all of its major counterparts as signs of an improvement in China’s economy supported the South Pacific nation’s export outlook. China is Australia’s largest trading partner.

An index of Chinese manufacturing climbed to 53.1 last month, the highest since March 2011, the logistics federation and the National Bureau of Statistics said yesterday. The measure has a pattern of rising each March.

EUR/USD: during the Asian session the pair receded from last week’s high.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session the pair decreased, lowered below $1.6000.

USD/JPY: during the Asian session the pair gain above Y83.00.

European data for Monday starts at 0700GMT with France car registrations data. This morning also sees the release of the final manufacturing PMIs for March, including France at 0748GMT, Germany at 0753GMT and EMU data at 0758GMT. Core-European data rounds off with EMU unemployment at 0900GMT, although at 0930GMT, ECB Governing Council member Yves Mersch is due to present the Central Bank of Luxembourg 2011 Annual Report. UK data at 0830GMT sees Housing Equity Withdrawal data from the Bank of England as well as Home Grown Food Prices and the Markit/CIPS Manufacturing PMI data. US data starts at 1400GMT, the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank releases the March 28 remarks of President James Bullard to a monetary policy conference at Tsinghua University in Beijing that was closed to the press. At 1400GMT, the ISM manufacturing index is expected to rise to a reading of 53.0 in March after the surprise February decline. At 1430GMT, the weekly MNI Retail Trade Index is also due. At 1635GMT, Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank President Sandra Pianalto speaks to the Economic Roundtable of the Ohio Valley and will take questions from the audience, in Marietta, Ohio.