The sterling held steady following Gordon Brown's budget. Elsewhere, the Chinese government has urged the central bank to keep the yuan stable as one of a long list of national priorities for 2006.

GBP
As predicted, Mr Brown's 10th budget contained no surprises and, as a result, the pound was left little changed. Elsewhere, the sterling had found market support from the release of this month's MPC meeting minutes.

USD
With traders looking ahead to next week's Federal Reserve meeting, the US dollar looks set to strengthen slightly as markets price in a 25bp hike in interest rates.

EUR
The eurozone trade deficit unexpectedly jumped to €10.9 billion in January, far exceeding the estimates of €1.4 billion that had been forecast.

JPY
Bank of Japan Policy Board member Shin Nakahara, urged caution and warned of the strong risks that Japan's economy still faced regarding deflation.

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