Foreign exchange market. Asian session: the Australian dollar traded lower against the U.S. dollar after the mixed Australian economic data

Economic calendar (GMT0):

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

00:30 Australia Retail Sales, M/M January +0.2% +0.4% +0.4%

00:30 Australia Retail Sales Y/Y January +4.1% +3.1%

00:30 Australia Trade Balance January -0.50 Revised From -0.44 -0.93 -0.98

01:30 Australia RBA Assist Gov Lowe Speaks

07:00 Germany Factory Orders s.a. (MoM) January +4.4% Revised From +4.2% -0.8% -3.9%

07:00 Germany Factory Orders n.s.a. (YoY) January +3.9% Revised From +3.4% -0.1%

08:00 United Kingdom Halifax house price index February +1.9% Revised From +0.3% -0.3%

08:00 United Kingdom Halifax house price index, y/y February +6.8% +8.3%

The U.S. dollar traded higher against the most major currencies. The greenback remained supported by yesterday's non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index. The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing purchasing managers' index for the U.S. climbed to 56.9 in February from 56.7 in January, beating expectations for a decline to 56.5.

The New Zealand dollar dropped against the U.S. dollar in the absence of any major economic reports from New Zealand.

The Australian dollar traded lower against the U.S. dollar after the mixed Australian economic data. Retail sales in Australia rose 0.4% in January, in line with expectations, after a 0.2% gain in December.

Australia's trade deficit widened to A$0.98 billion in January from A$0.50 billion in December. December's figure was revised down from a deficit of A$0.44 billion. Analysts had expected the trade deficit to rise to A$0.93 billion.

The Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Philip Lowe said on Wednesday that interest rate cut is less effective than in the past, but it weakened the exchange rate and encouraged housing construction.

The Japanese yen traded lower against the U.S. dollar in the absence of any major economic reports from Japan.

EUR/USD: the currency pair fell to $1.1025

GBP/USD: the currency pair decreased to $1.5224

USD/JPY: the currency pair rose to Y119.90

The most important news that are expected (GMT0):

12:00 United Kingdom BoE Interest Rate Decision 0.50% 0.50%

12:00 United Kingdom Asset Purchase Facility 375 375

12:00 United Kingdom MPC Rate Statement

12:45 Eurozone ECB Interest Rate Decision 0.05% 0.05%

13:30 Eurozone ECB Press Conference

13:30 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims February 313 319

13:30 U.S. Nonfarm Productivity, q/q (Finally) Quarter IV -2.2% +0.4%

15:00 Canada Ivey Purchasing Managers Index February 45.4 46.2

15:00 U.S. FOMC Member Williams Speaks

15:00 U.S. Factory Orders January -3.4% +0.1%