Foreign exchange market. Asian session: U.S. dollar traded higher against its major peers

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

00:00 Australia HIA New Home Sales, m/m January -1.9% +1.8%

00:30 Australia Company Operating Profits Quarter IV +0.5% +0.7% -0.2%

01:35 Japan Manufacturing PMI (Finally) February 51.5 51.5 51.6

01:45 China HSBC Manufacturing PMI (Finally) February 50.1 50.1 50.7

05:30 Australia Commodity Prices, Y/Y February -19.2% -20.6%

07:00 United Kingdom Nationwide house price index February +0.3% -0.1%

07:00 United Kingdom Nationwide house price index, y/y February +6.8% +5.7%

The U.S. dollar traded higher against its major peers despite mixed data published on Friday. The U.S. revised GDP grew 2.2% in the fourth quarter, lower than the previous estimated growth of 2.6%. Analysts had expected U.S. GDP to rise 2.1%. The Chicago purchasing managers' index declined to 45.8 in February from 59.4 in January, missing expectations for a fall to 58.4. That was the lowest level since July 2009. The final University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index was 95.4 in February, beating expectations for a decline to 94.2, down from the preliminary estimate of 98.2.

The Australian dollar declined versus the greenback before the upcoming policy meeting on Tuesday. HIA New Home Sales rose by +1.8% in January after a decline of -1.9% in December. Company Operating Profits for the fourth quarter declined by -0.2%, below the estimated growth of +0.7%. Last quarters reading was revised down from +0.5% tp +0.4%. Commodity prices declined year on year by -20.6% in February.

On Saturday the Peoples Bank of China cut benchmark interest rates for the second time in three months by a quarter percentage point to 5.35%. The HSBC Manufacturing PMI in Asia's biggest economy further expanded into positive territory and rose to 50.7 compared to 50.1 in the previous month. Analysts expected the index to remain at 50.1.

New Zealand's dollar lost against the greenback in the absence any major economic reports from New Zealand.

The Japanese yen traded lower against the greenback on Monday. Data on the Japanese Manufacturing PMI for February came in at 51.6, better than the expected 51.5 and the previous reading of 51.1 points.

EUR/USD: the euro traded lower against the greenback

(time / country / index / period / previous value / forecast)

08:30 Switzerland Manufacturing PMI February 48.2

08:50 France Manufacturing PMI (Finally) February 47.7 47.7

08:55 Germany Manufacturing PMI (Finally) February 50.9 50.9

09:00 Eurozone Manufacturing PMI (Finally) February 51.1 51.1

09:30 United Kingdom Mortgage Approvals January 60.3 61.0

09:30 United Kingdom Purchasing Manager Index Manufacturing February 53.0

09:30 United Kingdom Net Lending to Individuals, bln January 2.2 2.8

10:00 Eurozone Unemployment Rate January 11.4% 11.4%

10:00 Eurozone Harmonized CPI, Y/Y (Preliminary) February -0.6% -0.5%

13:30 Canada Current Account, bln Quarter IV -8.4 -7.4

13:30 U.S. Personal Income, m/m January +0.3%

13:30 U.S. Personal spending January -0.3%

13:30 U.S. PCE price index ex food, energy, m/m January 0.0% +0.1%

13:30 U.S. PCE price index ex food, energy, Y/Y January +1.3%

14:45 U.S. Manufacturing PMI (Finally) February 53.9 54.3

15:00 U.S. Construction Spending, m/m January +0.4%

15:00 U.S. ISM Manufacturing February 53.5 53.4

23:50 Japan Monetary Base, y/y February +37.4%