Global FX TESTING DATA:

• • • ASIAN MARKET
      
      Asian shares flinched from testing their 2007 record peak on Wednesday, as investors booked profits in high-tech shares while oil prices hit three-year highs due to production cuts and a fall in inventories.
       
    • GOLD
      
      Gold prices slipped on Wednesday as a surge in U.S. treasury yields and an ongoing rally in equities dented the precious metal’s safe-haven appeal.
       
    • OIL
      
       Oil prices hit their highest levels since 2014 on Wednesday due to ongoing production cuts led by OPEC as well as healthy demand, although analysts cautioned that markets may be overheating.
       
    • US
      
      North and South Korea held their first talks in over two years on Tuesday, which Washington welcomed as a first step to solving the North Korean nuclear weapons crisis, even though Pyongyang said those were aimed only at the United States and not up for discussion.
       
    • SOUTH KOREA
      
      South Korean President Moon Jae-in credited U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday for helping to spark the first inter-Korean talks in more than two years, and warned that Pyongyang would face stronger sanctions if provocations continued.
       
    • JAPAN
      
      Japanese astronaut Norishige Kanai, on a mission to the International Space Station, apologised on Wednesday for saying he had grown 9 cm (3.5 inches) while in space and expressing concern about whether he’d be safe on his return to Earth.
       
    • IRAN
      
      The stricken Iranian oil tanker in the East China Sea could burn for as long as one month, South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries told Reuters on Wednesday, as the blaze raged for a fourth day following a collision with a freight ship.
       
    • AUSTRALIA
      
       Job vacancies in Australia climbed to their highest on record in the three months to November, a sixth straight quarter of solid gains that augured well for continued growth in hiring.

    • CRYPTOCURRENCY
      
      A cybersecurity company said it has found software that appears to install code for mining cryptocurrency and sends any mined coins to a server at a North Korean university, the latest sign that North Korea may be searching for new ways to infuse its economy with cash.

    • CHINA
      
      Consumer prices rose 0.3% in China on month and at a 1.8% on year, official data showed Wednesday, below the expected 0.4% and 1.9% gains seen respectively.Producer prices rose 4.9%, a tick above the 4.8% gain expected.