Asian session: The yen fell for a second day

00:30 Australia Leading Index February +0.4% +0.6%

05:00 Japan Consumer Confidence March 44.3 46.7 44.8

The yen fell for a second day against all 16 of its major peers as investors speculated Japan will escape censure at a Group of 20 meeting this week over monetary policies that have weakened its currency. The yen continued a reversal from its biggest two-day rally versus the dollar in almost three years as a gauge of U.S. stock market volatility fell the most this year, sapping demand for the Japanese currency as a haven.

G-20 finance ministers and central bankers meet for two days from tomorrow in Washington, ahead of weekend talks of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. At their last gathering in February, they signaled that Japan could stimulate its stagnant economy as long as policy makers refrained from publicly advocating a sliding yen.

The Australian and New Zealand dollars held gains from yesterday as rallies in stocks and commodity prices boosted demand for higher-yielding assets.

New Zealand’s dollar climbed against most major counterparts after Auckland-based Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd., the world’s largest dairy exporter, said whole milk powder prices rose. Whole milk powder for June delivery rose 4.4 percent to a record $6,283 a metric ton, according to Fonterra’s GlobalDairyTrade website. The so-called kiwi briefly declined after the annual inflation rate held below the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s target range for a third quarter. In New Zealand, consumer prices increased 0.9 percent from a year earlier, Statistics New Zealand said in Wellington today, matching the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey and the forecast from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.

EUR / USD: yesterday the pair traded in the range of $ 1.3170-90

GBP / USD: yesterday the pair traded in the range of $ 1.5350-70.

USD / JPY: yesterday the pair rose to Y98.40.

The UK calendar gets underway from 0830GMT, with the release of the UK employment data and the Bank of England minutes from the April meeting.