Asian session: The yen slid for a second day

00:00 New Zealand ANZ Business Confidence January 39.4 34.6

00:30 Australia RBA Financial Stability Review March

Japan’s currency slid for a second day as Kuroda prepared to appear before parliament tomorrow, after telling lawmakers yesterday he aims for 2 percent annual inflation in two years. He said the BOJ may scrap the so-called banknote rule of keeping its bond holdings at less than the value of banknotes outstanding, and policy makers will discuss purchasing more debt with longer maturities. The BOJ currently buys government notes maturing in three years or less through its 76 trillion-yen ($801 billion) asset-purchase program.

Former BOJ Deputy Governor Kazumasa Iwata joined economists in predicting that Kuroda will fail to meet his price-increase goal.

The euro traded within 0.2 percent of a four-month low versus the dollar as concerns debt-crisis contagion will spread sapped confidence in the 17-nation currency bloc. It will continue to decline as the bailout package for Cyprus fans concern about the safety of bank deposits in the region, Redeker said in an interview yesterday in Sydney. Under the terms of an agreement struck March 25, senior Cypriot bank bond holders will take losses and uninsured depositors will be largely wiped out.

The euro remained lower for a second day after dropping 1.1 percent on March 25 ahead of data today set to confirm consumer confidence in the region stayed depressed in March. The initial reading from the European Commission in Brussels was minus 23.5, amid signs the economy is struggling to pull out of recession.

The final figures for French gross domestic product will probably confirm a 0.3 percent contraction in the fourth quarter, the biggest in almost four years, according to the median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

Italy auctions as much as 4 billion euros ($5.1 billion) of notes maturing in 2018, and up to 3 billion euros of 10-year bonds today. The euro area’s fourth-biggest economy sold 2.8 billion euros of 2014 zero-coupon bonds this week at a yield of 1.746 percent, the highest since Dec. 27.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $1.2835.

GBP / USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $1.5145.

USD / JPY: during the Asian session, the pair rose to Y94.90.

There is a full calendar Wednesday, with data on both sides of the Atlantic, along with a full schedule of Central Bank speakers. At 0700GMT, German February import prices data will be released, followed by German April consumer climate numbers at 0710GMT. French data at 0745GMT sees the release of fourth quarter 2012 detailed GDP data. Spanish data is expected at 0800GMT, with the release of March flash HICP numbers and the February retail sales. Italian January retail sales numbers will be released at 0900GMT, along with January industrial orders data.