Economic calendar (GMT0):

(Time/ Region/ Event/ Period/ Previous/ Forecast/ Actual)

00:00 Australia HIA New Home Sales, m/m February 0.6% Revised From 3.1% -5.3%

00:00 New Zealand ANZ Business Confidence February 7.1 3.2

00:30 Australia Private Sector Credit, m/m February 0.5% 0.5% 0.6%

00:30 Australia Private Sector Credit, y/y February 6.5% 6.6%

05:00 Japan Construction Orders, y/y February -13.8% -12.4%

05:00 Japan Housing Starts, y/y February 0.2% -2.4% 7.8%

06:00 Germany Retail sales, real adjusted February -0.1% Revised From 0.7% 0.3% -0.4%

06:00 Germany Retail sales, real unadjusted, y/y February -1.2% Revised From -0.8% 2.2% 5.4%

07:00 United Kingdom BOE Gov Mark Carney Speaks

07:55 Germany Unemployment Rate s.a. March 6.2% 6.2% 6.2%

07:55 Germany Unemployment Change March -9 Revised From -10 -7 0

08:30 United Kingdom Consumer credit, mln February 1607 Revised From 1564 1400 1287

08:30 United Kingdom Mortgage Approvals February 74.08 Revised From 74.58 73.5 73.87

08:30 United Kingdom Net Lending to Individuals, bln February 5.4 Revised From 5.3 5.1 4.9

08:30 United Kingdom Current account, bln Quarter IV -20.1 Revised From -17.5 -21.1 -37.2

08:30 United Kingdom GDP, q/q (Finally) Quarter IV 0.4% 0.5% 0.6%

08:30 United Kingdom GDP, y/y (Finally) Quarter IV 2.1% 1.9% 2.1%

09:00 Eurozone Harmonized CPI, Y/Y (Preliminary) March -0.2% -0.1% -0.1%

09:00 Eurozone Harmonized CPI ex EFAT, Y/Y (Preliminary) March 0.8% 0.9% 1.0%

The U.S. dollar traded lower against the most major currencies ahead of the release of the U.S. economic data. The number of initial jobless claims in the U.S. is expected to remain unchanged at 265,000 last week.

The Chicago purchasing managers' index is expected to increase to 50.0 in March from 47.6 in February.

The euro traded higher against the U.S. dollar after the better-than-expected consumer price inflation data from the Eurozone. Eurostat released its consumer price inflation data for the Eurozone on Thursday. The preliminary consumer price inflation in the Eurozone rose to -0.1% year-on-year in March from -0.2% in February, in line with expectations.

The preliminary consumer price inflation excluding food, energy, alcohol, and tobacco climbed to an annual rate of 1.0% in March from 0.8% in February. Analysts had expected the index to increase to 0.9%.

Food, alcohol and tobacco prices were up 0.7% in March, non-energy industrial goods prices gained 0.5%, and services prices climbed 1.3%, while energy prices dropped 8.7%.

The Federal Labour Agency released its unemployment figures for Germany on Thursday. The number of unemployed people in Germany was flat in March, missing expectations for a 7,000 decline, after a 9,000 decrease in February. February's figure was revised down from a 10,000 fall.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.2% in March, in line with expectations.

Destatis released its retail sales for Germany on Thursday. German adjusted retail sales fell 0.4% in February, missing forecasts of a 0.3% gain, after a 0.1% decrease in January. January's figure was revised down from a 0.7% increase.

On a yearly basis, German unadjusted retail sales climbed 5.4% in February, beating expectations for a 2.2% gain, after a 1.2% drop in January. January's figure was revised down from a 0.8% decline.

Sales of non-food products increased at an annual rate of 3.9% in February, while sales of food, beverages and tobacco products rose by 7.1%.

The British pound traded higher against the U.S. dollar after the release of the U.K. final GDP data. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) released its final gross domestic product (GDP) data on Thursday. The final U.K. GDP expanded at 0.6% in the fourth quarter, up from the February estimate of 0.5%, after a 0.4% rise in the third quarter.

On a yearly basis, the revised U.K. GDP rose 2.1% in the fourth quarter, up from the February estimate of 1.9%, after a 2.1% gain in the third quarter.

The upward revision was driven by revisions in services, industrial output and construction.

In 2015 as whole, GDP expanded 2.3%, up from the previous estimate of 2.2%.

The U.K.'s National Statistics Office (ONS) released its current account data for the U.K. on Thursday. The U.K. current account deficit widened to £37.2 billion in the fourth quarter from £20.1 billion in the third quarter. The third quarter's figure was revised down from a deficit of £17.5 billion.

Analysts had expected the current account deficit to increase to £21.1 billion.

The fourth quarter's current account deficit amounted to 7.0% of GDP, the highest share since 1955.

Declines in the current account deficit were driven by a drop in the deficit on primary and secondary income, and total trade.

In 2015 as a whole, the current account deficit was £96.2 billion or 5.2% of GDP. It was the biggest deficit since 1948.

The Canadian dollar traded higher against the U.S. dollar ahead of the release of the Canadian GDP data. Canada's GDP growth is expected to rise 0.3% in January, after a 0.2% gain in December.

EUR/USD: the currency pair increased to $1.1394

GBP/USD: the currency pair climbed to $1.4425

USD/JPY: the currency pair traded mixed

The most important news that are expected (GMT0):

12:30 Canada GDP (m/m) January 0.2% 0.3%

12:30 U.S. Initial Jobless Claims March 265 265

13:45 U.S. Chicago Purchasing Managers' Index March 47.6 50

21:00 U.S. FOMC Member Dudley Speak

22:30 Australia AIG Manufacturing Index March 53.5

23:50 Japan BoJ Tankan. Non-Manufacturing Index Quarter I 25 24

23:50 Japan BoJ Tankan. Manufacturing Index Quarter I 12 8