Asian session: The dollar maintained a two-day decline against the euro

00:00 AUD Consumer Inflation Expectation January +2.4% +2.8%

00:30 AUD Changing the number of employed December -6.3 +10.3 -29.3

00:30 AUD Unemployment rate December 5.3% 5.3% 5.2%

The dollar maintained a two-day decline against the euro amid signs the U.S. economy is gaining momentum and as Asian stocks extended a global rally, damping demand for haven currencies.

The Institute of International Finance, which represents private creditors to Greece, resumed negotiations yesterday after talks last week broke off over failure to agree with the government about how much money investors will lose by swapping their bonds. Greece could forge an agreement on a voluntary debt swap with creditors by the end of this week, one finance ministry official told reporters in Athens yesterday.

France is scheduled to auction bonds today maturing in more than a year for the first time since S&P stripped the nation of its AAA credit rating on Jan. 13. The country will offer debt whose maturities range from 2014 to 2040. Spain plans to sell as much as 4.5 billion euros ($5.8 billion) of notes and bonds maturing in 2016, 2019 and 2022 today.

Australia’s dollar declined for the first time in three days after a government report showed the nation’s employers unexpectedly cut jobs in December. The number of people employed in Australia fell by 29,300, the statistics bureau said today. That compares with the median estimate for an increase of 10,000 in a Bloomberg News survey of 23 economists. The jobless rate held at a revised 5.2 percent.

The so-called Aussie fell against all 16 of its most-traded peers before a Jan. 25 report on consumer prices that may prompt investors to increase bets on an interest-rate cut from the Reserve Bank of Australia next month. Australia’s underlying inflation slowed in the third quarter to the weakest pace in 14 years. The average of two core measures of consumer prices closely watched by the RBA showed a 0.3 percent gain in the three months through September from the previous quarter, the Bureau of Statistics said Oct. 26.

EUR/USD: during the Asian session the pair was in a range $1.2840-$1.2880.

GBP/USD: during the Asian session the pair was in a range $1.5420-$1.5445.

USD/JPY: during the Asian session the pair was in range Y76.70-Y76.80.

EMU data starts at 0900GMT Thursday with the ECB current account data, which is released at the same time as the ECB publishes the

Monthly Bulletin. Also at 0900GMT, the Norges Bank publishes its Q4 2011 Bank Lending Survey. US data starts at 1330GMT with the weekly Jobless Claims as well as Housing Starts, Building Permits and the Consumer Price Index. The pace of housing starts is expected to fall slightly to a 680,000 annual rate in December after jumping 9.3% in November. The NAHB index rose in December to its highest level since May 2010, while warm weather in parts of the country should give a boost to home building. The CPI is expected to rise 0.1% in December after holding steady in November. Energy prices are expected to decline further in the current month after plunging in November. The core CPI is expected to also rise 0.1%.