Chinese Yuan Advances Against US Dollar And Euro

(RTTNews) - In early deals on Thursday, the Chinese yuan advanced to a 3-day high against its European counterpart. The yuan climbed against the US dollar too.

The Chinese yuan ticked up against its US counterpart during Thursday's early Asian trading. At about 11:05 pm ET, the yuan rose to 6.8286 against the US currency, compared to Wednesday's closing value of 6.8350.

People's Bank of China today set the central parity rate for dollar-yuan pair at 6.8360.

From US, the Labor Department is due to release its customary weekly jobless claims report for the week ended January 31st at 8:30 am ET. At 10 am ET, the Commerce Department is due to release its report on factory goods orders for December. Orders for manufactured goods are likely to have decreased 3% in the month.

The Chinese yuan advanced to a 3-day high of 8.7519 against its European counterpart during Thursday's early Asian trading. This may be compared to Wednesday's closing value of 8.7803. The Yuan may likely target the 8.829 level against the European currency, if it rises further.

People's Bank of China today set the central parity rate for euro-yuan pair at 8.7593.

The Italian CPI and German Factory orders are the major economic releases scheduled for the upcoming session from the euro-area.

Japanese Protest As US Warship Docks In Nagasaki

TOKYO (AFP)--A U.S. warship docked Thursday in Nagasaki to the protests of residents and a boycott by local leaders who said the visit was in poor taste in a city obliterated by a U.S. atomic bomb.

The USS Blue Ridge, which is stationed in Yokosuka near Tokyo, sailed to Nagasaki with a stated goal of promoting friendship between Japan and the U.S.

Hundreds of residents including atomic bomb survivors chanted, "We are opposed to the port call!" as the 19,600-ton vessel arrived in the southwestern city.

"We don't want to see the U.S. flag flying at this port and this feeling will not change until the United States takes a policy towards the elimination of nuclear weapons," Osamu Yoshitomi, an official at Nagasaki city, said.

Nagasaki's mayor and regional governor both refused to take part in the welcome ceremony after unsuccessfully asking Japanese and U.S. authorities to cancel the visit.

The U.S. stations more than 40,000 troops in Japan under a post-World War II alliance. Under a 1960 agreement, local authorities don't have the right to refuse U.S. warships' port calls.

India Seeks Access To Terror Suspect In Spain

(RTTNews) - New Delhi has sought consular access to one of its national, the sole Indian picked up by the Spanish police in a terror sweep Tuesday, media reports said.

Indian officials will question Jangeet Singh who was arrested from Valencia and then decide whether to seek his extradition. The government is talking to Spanish police on the case.

In an operation, codenamed Operation Fish, Spanish police in coordination with its counterparts from other European countries arrested 11 Pakistanis from Barcelona and the Indian, suspecting this organised crime group of forging passports and other travel documents for terror organisations, including al-Qaida. The 12 men were brought to Madrid and produced in court Wednesday.

According to Spanish police, the network that they claim to have busted is involved in counterfeit documents, human trafficking and drug smuggling, and linked with document forgery and connected to other groups in France, Belgium, Switzerland, U.K., Germany and Thailand.

The group is alleged to have stolen passports and forwarded them to Thailand where they were altered and sent back to criminal gangs in Europe. Reports said the police recovered a lot of material relating to passport forgery including blank passports, mobile phones, photographs of some whose passports were being faked etc.

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