Global FX DATA:

• • • ASIAN MARKET
      
      Asian shares were mostly weak on Wednesday with investors cautious after U.S. President Donald Trump tempered optimism over progress made so far in trade talks between the world’s two largest economic powers. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.2 percent, while Japan’s Nikkei lost as much as 1.4 percent to hit a 1-1/2-week low and the Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.6 percent.
       
    • GOLD
      
      Gold prices rose slightly on Wednesday amid a firm dollar and uncertainty over the outcome of U.S.-China trade talks, while investors waited for minutes from the Federal Reserve’s meeting for clues on the outlook for U.S. interest rates.
       
  • • OIL
      
      Oil prices edged lower on Wednesday with the possibility of higher OPEC output weighing on the market, although geopolitical risks are expected to keep prices near multi-year highs.
       
    • INDIA
      
       Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the country’s top refiner, will turn to its traditional oil suppliers, mostly in the Middle East, if U.S. sanctions against Iran result in supply disruptions, its head of finance said.
       
    • DOLLAR
      
      The dollar edged higher versus a basket of currencies on Wednesday, with investors awaiting the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last policy meeting for hints on the pace of further U.S. monetary tightening.
       
    • CRYPTO CURRENCY
      
       Ethereum is the top public blockchain in the cryptocurrency space, while that of bitcoin, the original virtual currency, is ranked 13th, according to the Chinese government’s first monthly Global Public Chain Assessment Index released on Thursday.

    • JAPAN
      
      Japan’s government will push back its time frame for achieving a balanced budget by five years to fiscal 2025 but set an interim target to review progress in getting the country’s fiscal house in order, the Nikkei newspaper reported on Wednesday.

    • WASHINGTON
      
      The U.S. House of Representatives passed on Tuesday bipartisan legislation that would ease bank rules introduced in the wake of the 2007-2009 financial crisis, giving President Donald Trump a major legislative victory.

    • LONDON
      
      Public sector investor assets surged $2.5 trillion or 7.3 percent in 2017 to $36.2 trillion, the biggest jump in five years, an annual report showed on Wednesday, helped by stellar equity market gains and a gold price rise.

    • CHINA
      
      China's imports of sorghum rose sharply in April from a year earlier, customs data showed on Wednesday, as buyers brought in large volumes of the feed grain ahead of Beijing's anti-dumping decision made at the peak of Sino-U.S. trade tensions.

    • SINGAPORE
      
      Singapore's headline consumer price index (CPI) rose lower than expected in April from a year earlier, data showed on Wednesday.

    • SOUTH KOREA
      
      South Korea’s household debt rose at the slowest pace in three years in the first quarter of 2018, as the government took steps to prevent overheating in the property market.