• The dollar wallowed against the yen and other major currencies on Wednesday after the sudden dismissal of U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson killed off an earlier bounce in the currency.
The dollar was down 0.15 percent at 106.440 yen , having slipped overnight from a two-week high of 107.300 reached after wariness over a political controversy in Japan waned slightly.
The Fed holds a two-day policy meeting starting on March 20 and the central bank is widely expected to raise interest rates for the first time this year.
Tracking a decline in U.S. debt yields, the dollar index against a basket of six major currencies slipped to a six-day low of 89.565.
The euro extended an overnight bounce and was up 0.15 percent at $1.2407 , its highest in six days.
• European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Wednesday that the bank's policy will remain prudent despite it being more confident on the future path of inflation.
"We currently see inflation converging towards our aim over the medium term, and we are more confident than in the past this convergence will come to pass," Draghi said at an event in Frankfurt.
"But we still need to see further evidence that inflation dynamics are moving in the right direction. So monetary policy will remain patient, persistent and prudent."
• U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer presented President Donald Trump last week with a package of tariffs targeting billion a year in Chinese imports in response to allegations of intellectual property theft, but Trump urged him to consider a higher figure, Politico reported on Tuesday.$30
Politico, citing unnamed officials, said the tariffs were expected to be rolled out as soon as next week.
• Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda on Wednesday voiced confidence the central bank could engineer a smooth exit from its ultra-loose monetary policy, but said it was too early to debate specifics with inflation still distant from its target.
He also said the BOJ could learn from how other major central banks, such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, are whittling down stimulus for when it eventually exits easy policy.
• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday remained steadfast that he and his wife were not involved in a discount land-sale deal that has seen the opposition call for the resignation of his key ally, Finance Minister Taro Aso.
• China’s industrial output grew much faster than expected at the start of the year, suggesting the economy may be picking up momentum even as U.S. President Donald Trump readies hefty tariffs against one its most strategic growth drivers — technology.
Industrial output in January-February rose 7.2 percent from the same period a year earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, surpassing analysts’ estimates for a rise of 6.1 percent and picking up sharply from 6.2 percent in December.
• Real estate investment in China rose percent in the first two months of from the same period last year, even as property sales softened in the face of government cooling measures, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Wednesday.9.9 2018
China’s crude oil production in January and February fell 1.9 percent from a year ago to match a record low marked last August, data showed on Wednesday.
• The country churned out million tonnes of crude in the first two months of the year, according to data from he National Bureau of Statistics, equivalent to million barrels per day (bpd) and on a par with the weakest level in data stretching back to June, 30.37 3.76 2011.
• Economists have raised their forecasts for Singapore’s economic growth in , as they upgraded their views on private consumption as well as wholesale and retail trade, a central bank survey showed on Wednesday.2018
Singapore’s gross domestic product is expected to grow 3.2 percent this year, according to the median forecast of 24 economists surveyed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), up from the 3.0 percent median forecast in the previous MAS survey published in December.
• Oil prices were stable on Wednesday after posting two days of declines at the start of the week, with support largely coming from strong China data that implies higher future imports, while the relentless rise in U.S. crude output capped gains.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $60.77 a barrel at 0753 GMT, up 6 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their previous settlement.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 were at $64.62 per barrel, down just 2 cents from their last close.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
Thai
Eng