Foreign exchange market. Asian session: the New Zealand dollar climbed toward 3-year highs against the U.S dollar

Economic calendar (GMT0):

(Time/ Region/ Event/ Period/ Previous/ Forecast/ Actual)

00:30 Australia Westpac Consumer Confidence July +0.2% +1.9%

01:30 China PPI y/y June -1.4% -1.1% -1.1%

01:30 China CPI y/y June +2.5% +2.4% +2.3%

06:00 Japan Prelim Machine Tool Orders, y/y June +24.1% +34.2%

07:00 United Kingdom Halifax house price index June +3.9% -0.3% -0.6%

07:00 United Kingdom Halifax house price index 3m Y/Y June +8.7% +8.8%

The U.S. dollar traded lower against the most major currencies due to yesterday's comments by Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota. He said that inflation in the U.S. was more likely to be under Fed's 2% target until 2018. That may mean that interest rate in the U.S. will remain at the low level for a longer period.

Market participants are awaiting the release of the last Fed's monetary policy meeting today. They will be looking for any signs of the recovery of the world's largest economy. There are speculations that stronger employment data may lead to interest rate hike by the Fed.

The New Zealand dollar climbed toward 3-year highs against the U.S dollar due to decreasing demand for the U.S. currency ahead of Fed's meeting minutes. The kiwi was also supported by Fitch's decision. The ratings agency affirmed the New Zealand's AA rating yesterday and raised New Zealand's outlook to positive from stable.

The Australian dollar traded mixed against the U.S. dollar after the better-than-expected consumer confidence in Australia. The Westpac Banking Corporation released its consumer confidence index for Australia. The index increased 1.9% in July, after a 0.2% gain in June.

The Japanese yen traded lower against the U.S. dollar after the better-than- expected preliminary machine tool orders from Japan. The machine tool orders in Japan climbed 34.2% in June, after a 24.1% gain in May.

EUR/USD: the currency pair traded mixed

GBP/USD: the currency pair traded mixed

USD/JPY: the currency pair increased to Y101.65

The most important news that are expected (GMT0):

14:15 Canada Housing Starts June 198 191

20:00 U.S. FOMC meeting minutes