Asian session: The euro traded 0.4 percent from a seven-week low against the dollar

00:30 Australia Construction Work Done Quarter IV +1.7% +1.5% -0.1%

The euro traded 0.4 percent from a seven-week low against the dollar before Italy sells bonds today after the nation’s inconclusive elections sparked the biggest advance in sovereign yields in 14 months. Italy will seek to sell as much as 4 billion euros ($5.2 billion) of a new 10-year bond today and 2.5 billion euros of a 5-year benchmark note. Yesterday, Italian 10-year bond yields climbed 41 basis points to 4.88 percent.

The euro is heading for its first monthly loss since July as Moody’s Investors Service labeled Italy’s hung parliament “credit negative,” saying it puts the country’s structural and fiscal reforms at risk. The “inconclusive outcome” of Italy’s elections “raises the possibility of new elections, thereby potentially prolonging the country’s political uncertainty,” Moody’s wrote in a report dated yesterday. “Risks to implementing structural and fiscal reforms are substantial.” New elections may be necessary if the coalition led by Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani, who won the Chamber of Deputies by a thin margin, fails to muster a majority in the Senate. Comedian Beppe Grillo’s anti-austerity movement won more than 25 percent of the popular vote.

The yen fluctuated as investors weighed the timing of new monetary stimulus in Japan. In Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe aims to submit his nominations for the next Bank of Japan governor and two deputies tomorrow, his Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters today.

EUR/USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $1.3040-70.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session the pair fell below $1.5100.

USD/JPY: during the Asian session the pair was trading around the level of Y92.00.

Wednesday sees another full calendar on both sides of the Atlantic, starting with the release of the German January import prices at 0700GMT. At 0710GMT, the German March GfK consumer climate numbers will be released. This will be followed by the release of the French Feb consumer confidence numbers at 0745GMT. At 0830GMT, the ECB's Chief Economist Peter Praet is slated to give a speech in Frankfurt. Italy is back in focus at 0900GMT, with the release of the February ISTAT business survey. Also at 0900GMT, the ECB releases the January M3 data. US durable goods data follows at 1330GMT, then US housing data at 1500GMT.  BOE Bean due to speak at 0920GMT ahead of Q4 GDP first revision at 09030GMT.