India’s annual inflation rate for all commodities, based on the new series of Wholesale Price Index, for December declined for the third consecutive month to 7.18% from the preceding month’s 7.24% due to moderation in the prices of milk, fruits and egg/meat and fish and some manufactured products.

Continued downward trend in inflation will prompt the Reserve Bank of India to cut the interest rate at its monetary policy review on January 29. Rate of inflation was lower than the 7.74% reported in the corresponding month last year.

The Japanese yen erased its early losses against other major currencies in the early Asian session. The yen weakened earlier on hopes of expansion of monetary stimulus when the BoJ holds meeting next week. BoJ is widely expected to consider doubling its inflation target to 2% at its next meeting on January 21st-22nd. The yen is trading at 89.22 against the greenback, 90.71 against the loonie, 143.56 against the pound, 119.37 against the euro, 94.09 against the AUD, compared to early lows of 89.64, 91.16, 144.22, 120.00 and 94.68, respectively.