Global FX DATA:

• • • ASIAN MARKET
      
      Asian share markets took a time out on Wednesday as investors were left breathless at the breakneck pace of recent gains, while a fresh burst of speculative selling took the U.S. dollar to three-year lows.
       
    • GOLD
      

      Gold prices gains in Asia on Wednesday with a weaker dollar aiding buying for the greenback-denominated commodity with a backdrop of rising concerns about growing US protectionism in global trade ahead of a speech at the end of the week by president Trump in Davos.

    • OIL
      
      Oil prices fell on Wednesday, weighed down by data that showed an increase in U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories.
       
    • CHINA
      
      China’s rail freight volume in December posted a year-on-year decline for the first time in 18 months and road transport grew at its slowest pace in a year, data showed on Wednesday, the latest sign that Beijing’s war on smog has curbed business.
       
    • DOLLAR/YEN
      
      The dollar touched a four-month low against the yen on Wednesday, pressured by simmering concerns that the U.S. currency’s yield advantage will start to erode as major central banks head toward unwinding their massive stimulus.
       
    • 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.
       
    • SOUTH KOREA
      
      South Korea’s presidential office said on Wednesday it welcomes Japan’s decision for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to visit South Korea in time for the Pyeongchang Olympics next month.

    • TURKEY
      
      Turkey has killed at least 260 Syrian Kurdish fighters and Islamic State militants in its four-day-old offensive into the Kurdish-dominated Afrin region of northwest Syria

    • BEIJING
      
      Alphabet Inc’s Google, Tencent Holdings Ltd and Sequoia Capital China have joined B series funding round for Boston- and Shenzhen-based artificial intelligence (AI) pharmaceutical firm XtalPi Inc.Sequoia led the round, which brings the startup’s total funding amount to $20 million, .
       

    • JAPAN
      
      Japan’s exports to China and Asia hit record levels as shipments rose for a 13th straight month in December and manufacturing growth hit a four-year high in January, pointing to an economy that powered through the fourth quarter and into 2018.

    • US 
      
      The U.S. State Department said on Tuesday that it had created a Cuba Internet Task Force to promote “the free and unregulated flow of information” on the Communist-run island, an action denounced by Cuban state media as subversive.

    • INDIA
      
      Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi mounted a defense of globalization at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, urging joint action on climate change and economic cooperation, in a speech some delegates took as a swipe at U.S. President Donald Trump’s America First agenda.