Asian session: The U.S. currency weakened

00:00 China Bank holiday

01:30 Australia RBA Bulletin Quarter III

04:00 Japan BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda Speaks

04:30 Japan All Industry Activity Index, m/m July -0.6% +0.3% +0.5%

The U.S. currency weakened, pushing the Bloomberg Dollar Index toward the lowest level in seven months, after the Federal Reserve unexpectedly kept the current pace of asset purchases that tend to debase the greenback. The dollar traded near a seven-month low against the euro after policy makers maintained the U.S. central bank’s program to buy $85 billion a month of mortgage-backed securities and government debt, known as quantitative easing or QE, compared with a forecast by economists surveyed by Bloomberg News for a $5 billion reduction in Treasury purchases. The central bank left unchanged its outlook that its target interest rate will remain near zero “at least as long as” unemployment exceeds 6.5 percent, so long as the outlook for inflation is no higher than 2.5 percent, according to a statement.

The yen maintained losses versus most major counterparts after a government report today showed Japan had a trade deficit for a 14th month.

Japan’s Ministry of Finance said the nation had a trade deficit of 960 billion yen ($9.8 billion) in August, compared with the median estimate for a 1.11 trillion yen shortfall by economists polled by Bloomberg. Exports rose 14.7 percent from a year earlier, the sixth straight increase, while imports climbed 16 percent. The world’s third-biggest economy last recorded a surplus in June 2012.

In New Zealand, a report showed gross domestic product grew 2.5 percent in the three months through June 30 from a year earlier, beating the median forecast of 2.3 percent in a Bloomberg survey.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair  rose to $ 1.3540

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in the range of $ 1.6110-50

USD / JPY: during the Asian session the pair rose to Y98.50

There is a raft of UK data due for publication at 0830GMT, including August retail sales, the August BOE Capital Issuance data and the August SMMT Auto Production Figures. It is hard to call how retail sales will have performed during the month. Improving consumer confidence and rising house prices should begin to boost purchases soon but data from the BRC suggests sales growth slowed in August after a strong July. At 1000GMT, the September CBI Industrial Trends Survey will cross the wires. The purchasing managers index for the manufacturing sector was strong in August, suggesting the CBI survey will also show the sector expanding.