Foreign exchange market. Asian session: the pound little changed

Economic calendar (GMT0):

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

00:00 Australia Consumer Inflation Expectation November 3.5% 4.0%

00:10 New Zealand RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler Speaks

00:30 Australia Unemployment rate November 5.9% 6% 5.8%

00:30 Australia Changing the number of employed November 56.1 Revised From 58.6 -10 71.4

The euro declined against the U.S. dollar after ECB policymaker Ewald Novotny said that market analysts failed to understand signals from the central bank correctly and that they must pay more attention to economic data.

The pound traded range-bound ahead of the Bank of England meeting due later today. The bank is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate at 0.5%. A rate hike in the U.S. would allow the BOE to raise rates later too. Nevertheless analysts say that BOE rates might remain low for quite a while.

The Australian dollar rose on strong employment data. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% in November from 5.9% reported previously, while economists had expected it to rise to 6.0%. A lower rate points to positive momentum in the labor market. The number of employed rose by 71,400. The greatest increase was recorded in New South Wales suggesting that most jobs were created in non-mining sectors of the economy.

The New Zealand dollar rose sharply after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 2.5%, but signaled this might have been the last reduction in the current cycle. RBNZ Governor Graeme Wheeler said that he is concerned about the strength of the NZD. He added that a lower exchange rate would support economic growth.

EUR/USD: the pair fell to $1.0995 in Asian trade

USD/JPY: the pair traded within Y121.30-75

GBP/USD: the traded within $1.5170-95

The most important news that are expected (GMT0):

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

07:45 France Industrial Production, m/m October 0.1% -0.1%

07:45 France Industrial Production, y/y October 0.7%

07:45 France CPI, m/m December 0.1% 0%

07:45 France CPI, y/y November 0.1%

08:30 Switzerland SNB Interest Rate Decision -0.75% -0.75%

08:30 Switzerland SNB Monetary Policy Assessment

08:30 Switzerland SNB Press Conference

09:30 United Kingdom Total Trade Balance October -1.353

12:00 United Kingdom Asset Purchase Facility 375 375

12:00 United Kingdom BoE Interest Rate Decision 0.5% 0.5%

12:00 United Kingdom Bank of England Minutes

13:30 Canada Capacity Utilization Rate Quarter III 81.3% 81.9%

13:30 Canada New Housing Price Index, MoM October 0.1% 0.1%

13:30 U.S. Import Price Index November -0.5% -0.7%

13:30 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims December 269 269

13:30 U.S. Continuing Jobless Claims November 2161 2152

18:00 Eurozone ECB's Jens Weidmann Speaks

18:30 Canada BOC Gov Stephen Poloz Speaks

19:00 U.S. Federal budget November -136 -68

21:30 New Zealand Business NZ PMI November 53.3