It was a subdued Asia-Pacific session for.....>

FOREX: It was a subdued Asia-Pacific session for the major FX pairs ahead of a

Japanese market holiday on Monday.

- NZD was the marginal outperformer, aided by a modest acceleration in the

latest BusinessNZ Manufacturing PMI release, and the ensuing AUD/NZD sales,

which weighed on the AUD. The latest round of Chinese activity data was largely

ignored, although the modest beat in retail sales may have helped AUD base.

- The JPY received a modest boost after Japanese PM Abe (in RTRS headlines)

noted that "he doesn't think that easing should go on forever," although Abe did

stress that "it is up to the BOJ to decide when to end easy policy." This

allowed USD/JPY to trade back to ~Y111.80.

- Elsewhere, EUR, GBP & CAD were restricted to tight ranges vs. the USD, while

CHF was unreactive to comments from SNB Pres. Jordan, who noted that he looks

forward to when others tighten monetary policy.

- EU trade data & U.S. retail sales provide the headline economics releases on

Friday. ECB's Nowotny, BoE's Carney & Fed Evans are due to speak throughout the

day.