Asian session: The dollar held near the lowest in three weeks

00:00 Australia Conference Board Australia Leading Index July -0.2% +0.3%

00:30 Australia Leading Index July 0.0% +0.6%

01:30 Australia RBA Assist Gov Edey Speaks

01:30 China Property Prices, y/y August +7.5% +8.3%

The dollar held near the lowest in three weeks against the euro before the Federal Reserve concludes a two-day meeting today when policy makers will decide whether to slow its $85 billion of monthly asset purchases.

The Federal Open Market Committee will reduce Treasury purchases to $40 billion, while continuing to buy $40 billion of mortgage backed securities, according to the median estimates of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Fed policy makers have pledged to keep the benchmark interest rate near zero at least as long as unemployment exceeds 6.5 percent and the outlook for inflation is no more than 2.5 percent. The central bank will release its 2016 economic projections today, including the outlook for the benchmark rate.

The pound held a two-day loss against the euro before the Bank of England releases minutes of its last meeting. In the U.K., the Monetary Policy Committee on Sept. 5 held the target for asset purchases at 375 billion pounds ($596 billion) and kept its key interest rate at a record low 0.5 percent. Governor Mark Carney and colleagues provided an assessment of forward guidance last month and said they don’t intend to raise the rate until unemployment falls to 7 percent, adding that they don’t see that happening before late-2016.

The yen weakened against most major peers as stock gains curbed demand for haven assets.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair is trading around the $ 1.3350

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair is trading around the $ 1.5900

USD / JPY: during the Asian session the pair rose to Y99.30

The UK calendar sees the release of the BOE minutes from the September meet and will underline whether the MPC remains inline with Governor Carney on forward guidance. The numbers are expected at 0830GMT. The MPC decided to leave Bank Rate on hold at its record low level of 0.5% and quantitative easing unchanged at Stg375 billion at the meeting. It will be interesting to see if the minutes show any MPC members leaning towards voting for more QE.