Good Morning ,

- Quiet session for currency markets overnight

- Stocks: Nikkei +0.44 %, Hang Seng -0.70 %, Shanghai Composite +0.31 %,
  Dow Jones -0.21 %, S+P500 -0.33 %

- Gold rose to the highest level since mid November 2012, high so far 1775.50.

- World financial leaders will delay consideration of new resources for the
  International Monetary Fund until Europe boosts the size of its bailout
  funds, a senior U.S. Treasury official said. "We look forward to the results
  of the euro zone's assessment in early March of its firewall, and I'm sure
  when Europe's response becomes clearer, the G20 will be able to better assess
  IMF resources," U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Lael
  Brainard told reporters.

- IMF Official: 'Huge' Greek Program Implementation Risks In Next Few Days

- The International Monetary Fund will seek to keep its exposure to Greece
  under a new bailout package at 30 billion euros, including money still owed
  from a previous loan, an IMF official said.

- Japan is considering contributing $50 billion to the International Monetary
  Fund's European rescue package, the Asahi newspaper reported, without saying
  where it obtained the information. The amount won't be announced at the
  meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers this weekend
  since Japan is still observing the situation, the newspaper said.

- Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has dared her political rival, former
  foreign minister Kevin Rudd, to challenge her in a leadership vote next week,
  hoping to end infighting that threatens to sink the minority government and
  its reform agenda.

- Japan Reuters Tankan manufacturers' sentiment index fell to -11 in February
  from -5 in January, but is seen improving to -4 in three months.
  Nonmanufacturing index declined to +5 in February from +6 in January, and is
  expected to remain unchanged in three months.

- Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said he doesn't support changing the
  law governing the Bank of Japan.

- Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa says a 1% rise in yields may cause
  major Japanese banks to lose 3.5t yen from their JGB holdings.

- China should seize the opportunity to free-up capital account controls as the
  rewards of liberalisation outweigh the risks, said a report by the People's
  Bank of China statistics department published on Thursday. The reforms should
  take place over the next five to 10 years and give foreigners more freedom to
  buy Chinese property, stocks and bonds at the same time as allowing direct
  access by Chinese nationals to overseas property and asset markets, it said.
  The report, although not a policy announcement, provides one of the most
  detailed roadmaps yet of capital account reform from a government
  institution, underlining the high level debate underway in Beijing. (Reuters)

- Even though Mexico's inflation rate is creeping beyond the upper limit of the
  central bank's target range, Banco de Mexico Governor Agustin Carstens said
  on Wednesday he sees no reason to hike interest rates. Mexico's annual
  inflation rate pierced the central bank's 4 percent ceiling in January for
  the first time in over a year, and analysts expect data on Thursday to show
  the rate rising to 4.11 percent in early February.

- 1430 US Initial Claims
- 1600 US House Price Index Dec
- 1000 Germany IFO Feb
- 1000 Italy Consumer Confidence Feb
- 1200 UK CBI Trends Total Orders Feb
- 1200 UK CBI Trends Selling Prices Feb
- 1035 BOE Haldane
- 0915 Sweden Consumer Confidence Feb
- 0915 Sweden Manufacturing Confidence Feb
- 0915 Sweden Economic Tendency Survey Feb

      (CET)

Have a  good day !