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

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

00:00 Australia HIA New Home Sales, m/m February 1.8% 1.1%

00:00 New Zealand ANZ Business Confidence February 34.4 35.8

00:30 Australia Private Sector Credit, m/m February 0.6% 0.5% 0.5%

00:30 Australia Private Sector Credit, y/y February 6.2% 6.2%

01:30 Japan Labor Cash Earnings, YoY February 1.3% 0.7% delayed

05:00 Japan Housing Starts, y/y February -13.0% -7.0% -3.1%

06:00 Germany Retail sales, real adjusted February 2.9% -0.9% -0.5%

06:00 Germany Retail sales, real unadjusted, y/y February 5.3% 3.7% 3.6%

06:45 France Consumer spending February 0.6% 0.3%

06:45 France Consumer spending, y/y February 2.6%

The U.S. dollar is trading broadly higher against its major peers in the absence of major economic news for the region. FED Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer did not comment on the FED's rate policy.

The Australian dollar declined against the U.S. dollar for a sixth day. HIA New Home Sales for February declined from a previous reading of 1.8% to 1.1%. Private Sector Credit was in line with expectations and rose by 0.5% with a January reading of 0.6%. Year on year Private Sector Credit was unchanged at 6.2%.

New Zealand's dollar booked losses against the greenback during the Asian It's the sixth day of straight losses. The ANZ Business Confidence Index for February rose from 34.4 to 35.8.

The Japanese yen is trading almost flat to lower against the greenback. Japan Labor Cash Earnings were not reported and will be delayed due to a calculation issue. Housing Starts declined -3.1% year on year with a previous reading of -13.0%. Analysts expected a decline by -7.0%.

EUR/USD: the euro traded lower against the greenback

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

07:55 Germany Unemployment Change March -20 -10

07:55 Germany Unemployment Rate s.a. March 6.5% 6.5%

08:30 United Kingdom Business Investment, q/q Quarter IV -1.4%

08:30 United Kingdom Business Investment, y/y Quarter IV 2.1%

08:30 United Kingdom Current account, bln Quarter IV -27.0 -21.2

08:30 United Kingdom GDP, q/q (Finally) Quarter IV 0.5% 0.5%

08:30 United Kingdom GDP, y/y (Finally) Quarter IV 2.7%` 2.7%

09:00 Eurozone Unemployment Rate February 11.2% 11.2%

09:00 Eurozone Harmonized CPI, Y/Y (Preliminary) March -0.3% -0.3%

12:00 U.S. FOMC Member Laсker Speaks

12:30 Canada GDP (m/m) January 0.3% 0.2%

12:50 U.S. FOMC Member Dennis Lockhart Speaks

13:00 U.S. S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, y/y January 4.5% 4.6%

13:45 U.S. Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index March 45.8 52.5

14:00 U.S. Consumer confidence March 96.4 96.6

20:30 U.S. API Crude Oil Inventories March 4.8

22:30 Australia AIG Manufacturing Index March 45.4

23:50 Japan BoJ Tankan. Manufacturing Index Quarter I 12 14

23:50 Japan BoJ Tankan. Non-Manufacturing Index Quarter I 16 17