Asian session: The yen rose

00:30 Japan BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda Speaks

01:30 Australia Home Loans February -1.5% +1.6% +2.0%

02:00 China Retail Sales y/y March +12.3% +12.5% +12.6%

02:00 China Industrial Production y/y March +9.9% +10.1% +8.9%

02:00 China GDP y/y Quarter I +7.9% +8.0% +7.7%

04:30 Japan Industrial Production (MoM) (Finally) February -0.1% -0.1% +0.6%

04:30 Japan Industrial Production (YoY) (Finally) February -11.0% -10.5%

06:15 Japan BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda Speaks

The yen rose against all its 16 major counterparts after Chinese growth unexpectedly slowed, fueling demand for haven assets. China’s gross domestic product rose 7.7 percent in the three months ended March 31 from a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said in Beijing today. That compares with the 8 percent median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 41 analysts and 7.9 percent in the fourth quarter.

Japan’s currency headed for its biggest two-day advance in more than two years against the dollar after the U.S. Treasury said it would pressure the country to refrain from competitive devaluation. The U.S. Treasury said it would pressure Japan to avoid “targeting its exchange rate for competitive purposes” in its semi-annual currency report to Congress released in Washington on April 12.

Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers meet on April 18 and April 19 in Washington ahead of weekend talks of the IMF and World Bank. At their last meeting in February, they signaled that Japan could stimulate its stagnant economy as long as policy makers refrained from publicly advocating a sliding yen.

The New Zealand and Australian dollars dropped by the most in almost two months against the U.S. currency after the data signaled the economic recovery in their biggest trading partner has lost momentum.

The euro fell for the first time in three days after Moody’s Investors Service said Cyprus’s risk of an exit from the currency block remains high.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $ 1.3065.

GBP / USD: during the Asian session the pair fell to $ 1.5305.

USD / JPY: during the Asian session the pair fell Y97.55.