The euro climbed against the U.S. dollar on ECB's Yves Mersch comments. The policymaker noted that the ECB may expand the quantitative easing program. Investors welcomed his words. In December investors were partly disappointed by the ECB's decision to simply extend the €60 billion program till March 2017 as they expected more aggressive steps to stimulate the economy.

The Australian dollar is range-bound. The currency is supported by recent gains in commodity prices. Market participants are waiting for data on manufacturing and services PMIs in the country's major trading partner China. The report will be released on January 1.

S&P/Case-Shiller will release its U.S. house price index data at 14:00 GMT. The index is expected to post a 5.4% gain in October after a 5.5% rise in September.

EUR/USD: the pair rose to $1.0980 in Asian trade

USD/JPY: the pair traded within Y120.20-40

GBP/USD: the pair rose to $1.4905

The most important news that are expected (GMT0):

(time / country / index / period / previous value / forecast)

14:00 U.S. S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, y/y October 5.5% 5.4%

15:00 U.S. Consumer confidence December 90.4 93.6