The yen advanced the most in eight months against the dollar after the Bank of Japan said it will conduct open-ended asset purchases starting in January 2014, disappointing investors who expected bolder action sooner. Japan’s currency advanced from almost its weakest versus the dollar since June 2010 as the BOJ under outgoing Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said it will buy 13 trillion yen ($146.6 billion) in assets a month from January 2014 and set a 2 percent inflation target.

The euro rose for the first time in three days against the dollar after data showed that the level of confidence among German investors rose in January to its highest level for the last 2.5 years, adding a sign that Europe's largest economy is gaining momentum. The single currency also rose after the Bundesbank representative has denied speculation that Weidmann plans to step down as president of the central bank of Germany.

Later, the euro fell against the deterioration of statistics from the U.S.. As it became known today, sales in the secondary housing market of the United States unexpectedly fell by 1% m / m to 4.94 million, and, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, economic activity slowed in December.

The pound rose against the dollar, despite the fact that the published data showed a sharp drop in the balance of industrial orders. It is learned that the balance of industrial orders fell in January to the level of -20, compared to -12 in December. Note that according to the average forecast of experts value of this indicator should have been -11. In addition, for the three months ended in January, the balance of industrial orders up 4, contrary to expectations, at 8. However, the rate of decline was much less than -13 in the third quarter.