China’s poor trade data has once again fuelled the demand for haven Japanese Yen, which is trading widely higher against the greenback. USD/JPY was down by 0.46% to 112.92 during the late Asian hours.

China prompts rush to safe assets

According to official information, China’s exports fell 25.4% year-on-year to $126.1 billion in February. The reported fall is widely higher than the expectations of 12.5% drop as projected by the Economists. During the same period, China’s imports dipped 13.8% year-on-year after recording a drop of 18.8% in January. In response to this data, the Euro too slid by 0.25% to 124.62 during the day.

In Japan, a newly released data showed that the country’s economy shrank by 1.1% during the last quarter of the year 2015. However, the data came lower than the projections of a contraction of 1.4% for the period.

ECB’s policy stance

Though the euro remained positive versus the greenback, the gains were limited following the tall expectations of more monetary easing ahead of the European Central Bank’s meeting on Thursday. EUR/USD was trading 0.20% higher at 1.1035.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Dollar faced the heat after Federal Reserve officials hinted at the unlikeliness of interest rate hike in the short-term. Fed Governor, Lael Brainard, commented that the sluggish growth in China and weak demand across the globe continued to weigh over policy tightening stance even as there is a steady growth of the global financial markets.

The comments sent the dollar lower against major currencies. It was trading 0.42% lower against the Swiss Franc at 0.9910. The U.S. Dollar index shed 0.15% to 96.97 during today’s session.

Elsewhere, the Pound (GBP) remained under pressure for Brexit worries. The market participants have concerns over the outcome of Brexit vote. GBP/USD was trading 0.11% down at 1.4249. The Pound further weakened against the Euro as the EUR/GBP pair was seen trading down by 0.26% to 1.2918. Weak German industrial orders have led the weakness in GBP against Euro.