The first half of today's Asia-Pacific........>

FOREX: The first half of today's Asia-Pacific session saw major currency pairs

stick to relatively tight ranges. Datawise, Japanese final Q4 GDP and Jan BoP

data have been in the spotlight, but failed to produce any notable market

reaction. Nevertheless, JPY landed atop the G10 pile, supported by

underperforming equities, with the Nikkei 225 last trading ~1.3% lower.

- Most sterling crosses have also added a handful of pips. BBG reported that PM

May is set to tell the EU that the outcome of next week's Brexit vote in the

House of Commons depends on whether Brussels concedes on legally binding changes

to the Irish backstop. BBG also suggested that "the European Union made a new

offer in a bid to break the Brexit impasse, though it falls short of what

Britain has demanded."

- The Scandies have underperformed, in apparent carryover from yesterday's

post-ECB weakness, although EUR has traded flattish vs. other G10 currencies.

- Focus today turns to labour mkt data from the U.S. & Canada, French & Italian

industrial outputs, German factory orders and Norwegian GDP. Elsewhere, ECB's

Nowotny and Riksbank Dep Gov Floden will speak.