Asian session: The dollar slid

The dollar slid to a four-month low against the euro on Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s plan to conduct open-ended monetary easing, a process that tends to debase the U.S. currency. The Fed said it will expand its holdings of long-term securities with open-ended purchases of $40 billion a month of mortgage debt in a third round of quantitative easing. The U.S. central bank will continue buying assets, undertake additional purchases and employ other policy tools as appropriate “if the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially,” the Federal Open Market Committee said yesterday in a statement. The FOMC said it would probably hold the federal funds rate near zero “at least through mid-2015.

The euro was set for the longest stretch of weekly gains against the yen in three years as Asian stocks climbed to the highest level since May, boosting demand for riskier assets.

The yen retreated from a seven-month high against the greenback after comments by Japan’s Finance Minister Jun Azumi signaled he’s ready to intervene to weaken the currency. Japan’s Azumi told reporters today that he’ll take “decisive action” if necessary.  Azumi ordered the Bank of Japan to sell yen in markets on Oct. 31 after the yen strengthened to a post-war record of 75.35 per dollar.

EUR/USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose on the floor of a figure to $1.3040.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose on the floor of a figure above the $1.6200.

USD/JPY: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of Y77.50-65.

In the US at 1230GMT, two session highlights are scheduled for release, with the August Consumer Price Index and August Retail & Food Sales numbers. At 1315GMT, the U.S. August Industrial Production and Capacity Utilization numbers are released. At 1355GMT, the University of Michigan U.S. September Consumer Sentiment index hits screens. At 1500GMT, the U.S. July Business Inventories numbers are expected to rise 0.4% in July. At 1700GMT, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank Pres. Dennis Lockhart delivers the welcoming remarks to the Bank's Center for Human Capital Studies conference on "employment Consequences of the Great Recession.