AUD/USD: RBA kept rates steady overnight at 2% as expected. AUDUSD remained steady as well.

STOCKS: China’s official PMI manufacturing dropped to 49.0 in February versus expectation of 49.4. That’s the weakest level since January 2009 and suggests that contraction is worsening. Stocks in Asia closed positive despite the data, with Shanghai up +1.9%, and Nikkei +0.37%.

EUR/USD: Remains flat lined overnight, is kept below 1.09, unfazed by the rise in Asia. Looking ahead, markets now await the European open as well as the German employment data for fresh momentum on the pair. EUR has weakened against major currencies on the back of weak inflation numbers, prompting speculation that the ECB will have to loosen up monetary policy more aggressively.

GOLD: The surprise move from China to boost liquidity into the banking system, helped boost the price of XAU to $1248 overnight from $1219 yesterday. GOLD has enjoyed its strongest month since over a decade surging 10% in February alone.

Today will feature very important German and UK PMI’s, as well as US ISM manufacturing data later in the afternoon.