04:45 Australia RBA's Governor Glenn Stevens Speech March

The yen fell against most of its major peers as Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda outlined monetary easing options to achieve a 2 percent annual inflation goal in two years. Kuroda told lawmakers today that the BOJ will discuss purchasing more bonds with longer maturities. The BOJ currently buys government bonds maturing in up to three years through its 76 trillion-yen ($807 billion) asset-purchase program.

He also said the BOJ may scrap its so-called banknote rule of keeping central bank bond holdings at less than the value of banknotes outstanding. Policy specifics will be discussed at the BOJ board meeting scheduled for April 3-4, Kuroda said.

The euro traded 0.2 percent from a four-month low ahead of debt auctions in Italy, where lawmakers are trying to form a government after inconclusive elections last month. Italy is scheduled to sell bills today and bonds due in 2018 and 2023 tomorrow. The euro zone’s fourth-biggest economy auctioned 2.8 billion euros ($3.6 billion) of 2014 zero-coupon bonds yesterday at a yield of 1.746 percent, the highest since Dec. 27.

In the U.S., orders of durable goods probably rebounded 3.9 percent in February from a 4.9 percent drop the month before, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before the data is released today.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session, the pair rose to $ 1.2870.

GBP / USD: during the Asian session, the pair traded in a range of $ 1.5165/85.

USD / JPY: during the Asian session, the pair traded around Y94.20.

There is data on both sides of the Atlantic Tuesday, starting with the release of French data. At 0745GMT, French March housing starts/permits and the March consumer confidence survey are set for release. At 0900GMT, the Central Bank of Luxembourg is slated to present its latest Bulletin. At 1000GMT, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ewald Nowotny will participate in a panel discussion, in Prague. Additionally, the Portugal Bank of Portugal is set to publish its Spring Economic Bulletin, although no time is set. French February registered jobseekers numbers will be released at 1700GMT. There is little in the way of UK data, although the March CBI  Distributive Trades data will be released at 1100GMT. At 1425GMT, UK Chancellor George Osborne appears before the Treasury  Select Committee to be grilled on the 2013 Budget Statement.