Foreign exchange market. Asian session: the euro is steady ahead of ECB's decision

Economic calendar (GMT0):

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

00:30 Australia NAB Quarterly Business Confidence Quarter III 4 0

The euro little changed ahead of results of the European Central Bank meeting. Analysts say that despite recent talks of expansion of the QE program ECB Governor Draghi is unlikely to change the program's "settings" and is likely to wait at least till December. Meanwhile Draghi may try to lower the euro verbally. The single currency's strength is unfavorable for domestic exporters. Analysts say that the ECB intends to maintain euro's low exchange rate in order to support competitiveness of exports. That's why the central bank may signal that it inclines towards softer policy.

The Australian dollar slightly rose at the beginning of the session after yesterday's decline, which was caused by declines in commodity prices. Meanwhile later the AUD fell amid news that one of Australia's major banks Commonwealth Bank decided to raise its standard interest rate by 15 basis points like Westpac.

EUR/USD: the pair fluctuated within $1.1330-50 in Asian trade

USD/JPY: the pair fell to Y119.60

GBP/USD: the pair rose to $1.5435

The most important news that are expected (GMT0):

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

08:30 United Kingdom Retail Sales (MoM) September 0.2% 0.3%

08:30 United Kingdom Retail Sales (YoY) September 3.7% 4.8%

11:45 Eurozone ECB Interest Rate Decision 0.05%

12:30 Eurozone ECB Press Conference

12:30 Canada Retail Sales, m/m August 0.5% 0.1%

12:30 Canada Retail Sales YoY August 1.8%

12:30 Canada Retail Sales ex Autos, m/m August 0% 0.1%

12:30 U.S. Chicago Federal National Activity Index September -0.41

12:30 U.S. Continuing Jobless Claims October 2158 2188

12:30 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims October 255 265

13:00 U.S. Housing Price Index, m/m August 0.6%

14:00 Eurozone Consumer Confidence (Preliminary) October -7.1 -7.35

14:00 U.S. Leading Indicators September 0.1% 0.0%

14:00 U.S. Existing Home Sales September 5.31 5.38