Global FX DATA:

• • • ASIAN MARKET
      
      Asian shares rebounded on Friday as comments from a Federal Reserve official eased worries about faster rate rises in the United States, while the safe-haven yen held on to its gains amid heightened volatility across markets.
       
    • GOLD
      
      Gold prices slipped on Friday and were headed for their sharpest weekly drop in 2-1/2 months as the dollar strengthened during the week.
       
  • • OIL
      
      Oil prices edged up on Friday, supported by lower US Crude inventories, but gains were capped by a surge in U.S. exports that dragged net imports in the world's biggest fuel consumer to a record low.
       
    • INDIA
      
      The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing wrongdoing in the banking sector arrested the owner of pen maker Rotomac Global and his son on Thursday.CBI arrested the men, both directors of Rotomac Global Pvt Ltd, in an ongoing investigation into allegations they had cheated a consortium of banks.
       
    • DOLLAR
      
      The dollar edged up against the yen and other currencies on Friday, trimming earlier losses, as global investors gingerly dipped their toes back into riskier assets amid rapidly shifting views on U.S. monetary policy.
       
    • AUSTRALIA
      
      Australian Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said on Friday he will resign as leader of his party and will move to the backbench after weeks of pressure over an extra-marital affair with his former media secretary.
       
    • DUTCH
      
      The Dutch parliament on Thursday passed a motion recognising as genocide the massacre of as many as 1.5 million Armenians in 1915, although the government said it would not become official policy of the Netherlands.

    • SOUTH AFRICA
      
      A South African minister inadvertently misled parliament when she said a local consultancy firm linked to business friends of former President Jacob Zuma had no contracts with state power utility Eskom.

    • VENEZUELA
      
       The Trump administration plans to announce on Friday what is being billed as the largest package of sanctions yet against North Korea to increase pressure on Pyongyang for its nuclear and ballistic missile tests.

    • CHINA
      
      China’s January trade with North Korea fell to the lowest level since at least June 2014, the latest sign that China has kept up pressure on its isolated neighbor in line with United Nations trade sanctions.

    • US
      
       U.S. semiconductor testing company Xcerra Corp said on Thursday a U.S. national security panel had blocked its $580-million sale to a Chinese state-backed semiconductor investment fund, the latest such deal to be thwarted.
       

    • PARIS
      
      French President Emmanuel Macron staked out a middle ground on Thursday ahead of a major farm show, urging farmers to invest more rather than complain about overseas competition, while also promising to protect them from foreign land buyers.

    • CANADA
      
      Canadian and Indian officials scrambled on Thursday to explain how a convicted Sikh extremist was invited to a New Delhi reception for Justin Trudeau, the latest misstep in the Canadian prime minister’s bumpy eight-day trip to India.