Asian session: The yen climbed

00:00 China Bank holiday -

04:30 Japan Industrial Production (MoM) (Finally) December +2.5% +2.5% +2.4%

04:30 Japan Industrial Production (YoY) (Finally) December -7.8% -7.9%

05:00 Japan BoJ monthly economic report February

The yen climbed ahead of a meeting of Group-of-20 finance officials and as investors speculated who may be chosen to lead the Bank of Japan to carry out Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push for more monetary stimulus. G-20 finance ministers and central bankers start a two-day meeting today in Moscow. The group will reaffirm a pledge to “refrain from competitive devaluation” and will commit to monitoring “possible monetary-policy spillover,” according to a draft statement obtained by Bloomberg.

Toshiro Muto is the leading candidate for BOJ governor, Reuters reported today, citing people close to the selection process. Muto is the most conservative among probable choices, according to Citigroup Inc.

The euro was near three-week low on signs the currency bloc’s economy is struggling to recover. Reports yesterday signaled that the euro area’s recession deepened more than forecast last quarter. Gross domestic product fell 0.6 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, the European Union’s statistics office said, the worst performance since the first quarter of 2009.

The New Zealand dollar reached the highest level in almost 1 1/2 years after retail sales jumped. In New Zealand, retail sales adjusted for inflation surged 2.1 percent in the three months through December from the third quarter, when they fell a revised 0.2 percent, the statistics office in Wellington said today. The gain was the most since the fourth quarter of 2006 and exceeded the 1.4 percent median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $ 1.3345-75.

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose to $ 1.5520.

USD / JPY: during the Asian session the pair fell to Y92.25.