Asian session review: the pound declined

The markets are waiting for the Bank of England interest rate decision and the volume of purchases of software assets. Most economists polled by to Reuters, expect that today the Bank of England to cut rates by at least 25 basis points to a new record low of 0.25 percent. Recall, the UK central bank rate has not changed since the beginning of 2009. However, 17 of the 36 experts said that the program of quantitative easing (QE), which was suspended in 2012, will also be restarted today.

The yen rose slightly after the comments of the deputy head of the Bank of Japan Kiku Iwata that the Bank of Japan does not have a predetermined course of monetary policy. However, during the trading session the Japanese currency fell, reaching yesterday's low.

"We do not have any specific advance the future course of monetary policy", - said Mr. Iwata and added - "the Bank of Japan Politics and government - is not the same thing as" helicopter money". Mr. Iwata also noted that at the September meeting the evaluation of the monetary will be made from a variety of perspectives.

The US dollar traded in a narrow range after yesterday significantly rise against the euro. Some investors believe that Friday's employment data will be strong, so that the Federal Reserve in the next few months will be able to produce a rise in interest rates. Today futures on interest rates Fed suggest a 18% probability of rate hikes in September and 39% probability to increase rates in December.

The Australian dollar rose after data on retail sales in Australia in June. As reported today, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, retail sales rose in June by 0.1%, which is below analysts' expectations of 0.3% and the previous value of 0.2%. In the second quarter, this indicator grew by 0.4%, while analysts had expected an increase of 0.5%. The volume of retail sales - an indicator that assesses the total volume of retail sales through retail outlets of various types and sizes shown on the basis of a representative sample. It is considered an indicator of the rate of growth of the Australian economy.

According to the Bureau of Statistics, the main reason for the decline in retail sales is the cold weather, which was observed in Australia in recent years.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair was trading in the $ 1.1130-40 range

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair is trading in the $ 1.3285 range.

USD / JPY: during the Asian session, the pair was trading in Y100.85 - 101.55 range.