Asian session: The yen weakened versus all 16 major counterparts

The yen weakened versus all 16 major counterparts as Asian shares rallied and minutes of the Bank of Japan’s July meeting signaled policy members are considering ways to expand stimulus. Japan’s currency slid for a second day against the euro as Asian equities halted a two-day decline, curbing demand for haven assets. The BOJ avoided adding stimulus at its July meeting, expanding its asset-purchase program to 45 trillion yen ($574 billion) from 40 trillion, while cutting its loan facility to 25 trillion yen from 30 trillion yen.

The euro maintained gains after data today showed France’s economy unexpectedly avoided a contraction and German growth slowed less than forecast during the second quarter. France’s gross domestic product was unchanged in the second quarter from the first, national statistics office Insee in Paris said today in an e-mailed statement. Economists forecast a 0.1 percent decline, according to the median of 26 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey.

Germany’s GDP rose 0.3 percent from the first quarter, when it gained 0.5 percent, the Federal Statistics Office said in Wiesbaden today. Economists predicted a 0.2 percent increase, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg poll. The euro region will report GDP figures later today.

The New Zealand dollar strengthened after the statistics bureau said today sales adjusted for inflation gained 1.3 percent in the three months through June. That compares with a 0.6 percent decline in the first quarter and a 0.7 percent gain estimated in a Bloomberg survey.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair rose to $1.2350.

GBP / USD: during the Asian session the pair rose, approaching $1.5700.

USD / JPY: during the Asian session the pair gain and continued Monday’s growth.

Tuesday is a much busier day for data, starting at 0530GMT with France HICP for July, which is expected to come in at -0.5% m/m, 2.3%  y/y and, at the same time, flash Q2 GDP, which is expected at -0.1% q/q. Germany releases Q2 flash GDP at 0600GMT, which is expected to rise 0.2% q/q. France is back at 0630GMT with the BoF retail survey and then at 0645GMT with Q2 employment data. Final Spain HICP data is due at 0700GMT. The main core-European release is the 0900GMT German ZEW survey, which is expected to be mixed with a forecast for the current situation reading of 17.5 (from 21.1) and economic sentiment reading of -19.3 (from -19.6). Also at 0900GMT, EMU industrial output is expected at -0.7% m/m, -2.1% y/y, while EMU Q2 flash GDP data is seen at -0.2% q/q. UK data sees Consumer Prices for July at 0830GMT. Headline CPI fell sharply to hit 2.4% in June and in this month's Inflation Report the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee forecast it would decline further this year. US data starts at 1145GMT with the weekly ICSC-Goldman Store Sales data, which is followed at 1230GMT by both the Producer Price Index and Retail & Food Sales data. Producer prices are expected to rise 0.2% in July after rising 0.1% in June. The weekly Redbook Average follows at 1255GMT, while at 1400GMT both Business Inventories and the latest IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index are due.