01:30 Australia Private Capital Expenditure -1.2% +0.7% -4.7%

01:30 Australia Building Permits, m/m -5.5% +4.1% +9.1%

01:30 Australia Building Permits, y/y +3.9% +22.5% +27.3%

The Dollar Index was about 1 percent from the almost three-year high reached earlier this month ahead of U.S. data on first-quarter growth today. The U.S. Commerce Department is likely to say today the world's biggest economy grew at an annualized 2.5 percent pace in the first quarter, according to the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. That would be unchanged from the preliminary reading released last month.

The yen held gains after data showed Japanese were net sellers of foreign debt for a second week. Japanese investors sold a net 1.12 trillion yen ($11 billion) of foreign bonds in the week ended May 24, the most since the period ended April 5. They sold 800 billion yen of overseas debt in the week through May 17. The nation's 10-year bond yields climbed to a more than one-year high of 1 percent last week from 0.55 percent on April 3, the day before the Bank of Japan announced a plan to double monthly bond purchases. They fell 3 1/2 basis points today to 0.90 percent.

Australia's dollar rallied after data showed an unexpected gain in building permits. In Australia, building approvals rose 9.1 percent in April from the previous month, when they decreased 5.5 percent, the statistics bureau said today. The median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for a 4 percent increase. The Aussie briefly fell after separate government data showed capital expenditures unexpectedly dropped. Spending declined 4.7 percent in the first quarter from the previous three-month period. That compared with a 0.5 percent increase predicted by economists.

EUR / USD: during the Asian session the pair rose to the day's high

GBP / USD: during the Asian session the pair rose above $ 1.5150

USD / JPY: during the Asian session the pair is trading around Y101.00

UK Nationwide house price data due for release at 0600GMT though focus for direction expected to be on end month flows. Euro area confidence data at 0900GMT provides the domestic highlight this morning, followed this afternoon by the US Q1 GDP second read.