Global FX DATA:

• • • ASIAN MARKET
      
      Asian stocks held near a record high on Thursday though concerns about the Trump administration’s protectionist stance cast a shadow on financial markets, while the dollar struggled after U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin welcomed a weaker currency.
       
    • GOLD
      

      Gold prices gained in Asia on Thursday after an initial small gain in the dollar index was reversed and favored physical buying of the greenback-denominated commodity with investors still pondering an apparent switch in the US strong dollar policy by the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin overnight.

    • OIL
      
      Oil prices on Thursday hit their highest level since December 2014, lifted by a weak dollar and a 10th straight week of declines in U.S. crude inventories.
       
    • CHINA
      
       Chinese wind turbine maker Sinovel Wind Group Co was convicted on Wednesday of U.S. charges that it stole trade secrets from AMSC, causing the Massachusetts-based company to lose more than $800 million.
       
    • DOLLAR
      
      The dollar skidded to a three-year low against its peers on Thursday after caving on comments by U.S. Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin that he welcomed a weaker currency, while the euro was firm ahead of the European Central Bank’s policy decision.
       
    • CRYPTOCURRENCY
      
      Worries about a crackdown by global regulators on cryptocurrency trading could slow the pace of bitcoin’s rise but should not threaten its existence, At the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami, investors and executives interviewed by Reuters were unfazed by government moves to further regulate cryptocurrencies, which have sent prices into a tailspin.
       
    • NORTH KOREA
      
       A delegation of North Korean officials and ice hockey players crossed the heavily guarded border into South Korea on Thursday for joint Olympics training, as Pyongyang called for all Koreans to seek unification of the two nations.

    • MEXICO
      
      Mexico’s Central Bank Governor Alejandro Diaz de Leon said on Wednesday he expected the inflation rate to continue slowing in 2018 toward the bank’s target rate of three percent.

    • AUSTRALIA
      
      Tens of thousands of Australians plan to mark Australia Day, Jan. 26, with mass protests, demanding the date of the national holiday be changed given its links to colonisation and the ill-treatment of indigenous Aborigines.
       

    • JAPAN
      
      Uber Chief Executive Dara Khosrowshahi will make his first visit to Asia next month as the new head looks to improve the image of the controversial ride-sharing firm in the region.

    • US 
      
      President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would be willing to be interviewed under oath by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.

    • INDIA
      
      India’s government pledged on Wednesday to inject nearly $14 billion combined into all but one state-run lender by March in return for them implementing reforms, in a bid to boost lending and tackle a record bad debt problem.