Asian session: The yen fell

00:30 Australia Westpac Consumer Confidence April +2.0% -5.1%

02:00 China Trade Balance, bln March 15.3 15.2 -0.9

The yen fell versus most of its 16 major counterparts as the Bank of Japan’s unprecedented stimulus measures aimed at ending almost two decades of deflation spurred bets the currency will weaken further.

The yen was 1 percent from 100 per dollar before BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda speaks at a Yomiuri newspaper event on April 12, following his decision last week to double monthly bond purchases to achieve 2 percent annual inflation in two years. BOJ policy makers said at the conclusion of their meeting on April 4 that they will boost monthly debt purchases to 7.5 trillion yen ($76 billion). They also suspended a cap on some bond holdings and dropped a limit on debt maturities. Officials will next meet on April 26.

The greenback traded near a three-week low versus the euro before the Federal Reserve releases minutes of its March meeting. Chairman Ben S. Bernanke left the pace of government and mortgage debt purchases at $85 billion a month and said further improvement in the U.S. labor market is needed for the central bank to consider reducing its record monetary easing. The Commerce Department may say on April 12 that U.S. retail sales stagnated last month after a 1.1 percent gain in the previous period, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Australia’s currency climbed for a third day after a report today showed imports by China, the South Pacific nation’s biggest trading partner, climbed 14.1 percent in March from a year earlier. That’s more than twice the 6 percent gain predicted by economists in a Bloomberg poll and a reversal from the 15.2 percent decline recorded in February.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $ 1.3070-90.

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose to $ 1.5340.

USD / JPY: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of Y98.90-35.

Although there is a full calendar scheduled for Wednesday, the main data releases are largely second tier, with the FOMC minutes the stand-out release. The calendar gets underway at 0645GMT, with the release of the February industrial output data. Analysts are looking for a 0.2% increase on month and an annual fall of 3.9% At 0700GMT, Spanish February industrial output numbers are expected and will likely top continue to make ugly reading, although analysts are looking for a very modest uptick to -4.9% y/y. Italian February industrial output numbers are expected at 0800GMT, with expectations for a 0.5% on month fall and an annualised fall fo 4.0%. The OECD February leading indicator numbers are due at 1000GMT.