Sterling has started the week on the back.....>

FOREX: Sterling has started the week on the back foot as participants assess the

odds of the BoE cutting interest rates at the upcoming monetary policy meeting,

in the wake of a slew of disappointing data releases and dovish comments from

MPC members from earlier this month. A big miss in UK retail sales reported on

Friday boosted implied probability of a rate cut in January to ~71% from 62%. 

- NOK trades higher owing to a jump in crude oil prices, after a blockage of

some Libyan ports by military commander Khalifa Haftar halved the country's

output, while Iraq halted operations at one of its oil fields. CAD has failed to

pick up a bid alongside it Scandinavian oil-tied peer.

- Safe havens have been unfazed by Mideast unrest. USD/JPY operates just a

handful of pips shy of its best levels since May, touched on Friday.

- CNH has firmed up a tad after a stronger than expected central USD/CNY fix

from the PBoC. Elsewhere, China's central bank left its 1- and 5-Year LPR unch.

USD/CNH threatened to break under a multi-month low printed on Friday.

- The focus turns to final Japanese industrial output and German PPI. ECB

President Lagarde will take part in a closed-door event.