Foreign exchange market. Asian session: the pound rose ahead of MPC meeting

Economic calendar (GMT0):

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

01:30 Australia Unemployment rate July 6.1% Revised From 6.0% 6% 6.3%

01:30 Australia Changing the number of employed July 7.0 Revised From 7.3 10 38.5

05:00 Japan Leading Economic Index (Preliminary) June 106.2 107.2

05:00 Japan Coincident Index (Preliminary) June 109.0 112.0

06:00 Germany Factory Orders s.a. (MoM) June -0.3% Revised From -0.2% 0.2% 2.0%

The sterling advanced against the dollar ahead of today's Bank of England meeting. Starting from January all members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep the bank's benchmark rate at 0.5%. MPC members voted so in July too, however there are signs that policymakers are getting ready to raise rates. Economists expect two members of the committee to vote for a rate hike. Today the BOE will announce its interest rate decision and publish minutes of its meeting and updated economic forecasts at once for the first time.

The euro rose due to disappointing data on employment in private sector of the U.S. economy. Nevertheless the single currency is still under pressure ahead of U.S. payrolls data, which will be published tomorrow.

The Australian dollar surged and then gave up its gains amid economic data. The unemployment rate rose by 0.3% to 6.3% in July. Analysts expected the index to come in at 6%.

EUR/USD: the pair traded above $1.0900 in Asian trade

USD/JPY: the pair traded around Y124.75

GBP/USD: the pair rose to $1.5625

The most important news that are expected (GMT0):

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

08:30 United Kingdom Industrial Production (MoM) June 0.4% 0.1%

08:30 United Kingdom Industrial Production (YoY) June 2.1% 2.2%

08:30 United Kingdom Manufacturing Production (YoY) June 1% 0.4%

08:30 United Kingdom Manufacturing Production (MoM) June -0.6% 0.2%

11:00 United Kingdom BoE Interest Rate Decision 0.5% 0.5%

11:00 United Kingdom Asset Purchase Facility 375

11:00 United Kingdom MPC Rate Statement

11:45 United Kingdom BOE Financial Stability Report

12:30 U.S. Continuing Jobless Claims July 2262 2240

12:30 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims August 267 273

14:00 United Kingdom NIESR GDP Estimate July 0.7%

23:30 Australia AiG Performance of Construction Index July 46.4