Sterling gains as UK's May seeks Brexit delay U.S. durable goods...

• Sterling gains as UK's May seeks Brexit delay
• U.S. durable goods orders fell in February
• Fed on hold may encourage investment in emerging markets

(Adds May comments, updates prices)

Sterling gained and the euro pared losses, but remained lower on the day, after British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday that she would ask the European Union for a further delay to Brexit.

May is seeking a delay beyond April 12 to give her time to sit down with the opposition Labour Party in a bid to break the impasse over Britain's departure.

The pound GBP=D3 rallied as much as 0.4% after May's statement, to trade above the $1.31 line. Previously, it was heading towards the $1.30 levels.

The euro EUR= jumped to a U.S. session high of $1.1215 before giving up much of the gains and remaining lower on the day.

The euro has dropped to more than three week lows against the U.S. dollar as investors evaluate international growth prospects with the U.S. and European central banks unlikely to raise interest rates soon.

Survey data on Monday showed factories in the euro zone had their worst month in almost six years in March, while economic data in the United States offered more hope.

Data on Tuesday, however, showed that new orders for key U.S.-made capital goods unexpectedly fell in February and shipments were unchanged, while data for January was revised slightly higher.

"The theme is really is good U.S. data good or bad for the dollar?” said Mark McCormick, North American head of FX strategy at TD Securities in Toronto, adding that it may in fact be negative with the Federal Reserve on hold regarding rates.

That is because a solid U.S. economy should help the view that the global economy will stabilize, and encourage investors searching out yield to move into emerging markets for higher returns, he said.

Outflows from European equity exchange-traded funds have also diminished, which suggests an improving outlook for the region, McCormick said. Like the Fed, the ECB is not expected to raise rates in the near term.

The single currency was last $1.1194 against the dollar EUR= , after earlier dipping to $1.1181, the lowest since March 7. The euro is nearing the $1.1174 level, which if broken would send the currency to its weakest levels since June 2017.

Some technical indicators suggest the euro may be nearing the end of its downturn, and that it should find support soon if it does not drop below the $1.1185-$1.1175 region.

The euro is trying to find a bottom, "but (it) needs to do more work," Karen Jones, a technical analyst at Commerzbank wrote on Tuesday in a report.

Australia's dollar shed 0.69% AUD= after the Australian government downgraded its growth forecasts but said it expected the economy to extend its enviable recession-free run of growth into a third decade.

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	Currency bid prices at 2:06PM (1806 GMT) 

 Description	  RIC		 Last		   U.S. Close  Pct Change	 YTD Pct	 High Bid	Low Bid 
											  Previous				   Change				  
											  Session											
 Euro/Dollar	  EUR=		$1.1194		$1.1212	 -0.16%		 -2.40%	  +1.1218	 +1.1184 
 Dollar/Yen	   JPY=		111.3400	   111.3400	+0.00%		 +0.98%	  +111.4500   +111.2600 
 Euro/Yen		 EURJPY=	 124.68		 124.84	  -0.13%		 -1.22%	  +124.9000   +124.4800 
 Dollar/Swiss	 CHF=		0.9984		 0.9987	  -0.03%		 +1.73%	  +1.0000	 +0.9974 
 Sterling/Dollar  GBP=		1.3114		 1.3099	  +0.11%		 +2.80%	  +1.3131	 +1.3015 
 Dollar/Canadian  CAD=		1.3351		 1.3306	  +0.34%		 -2.10%	  +1.3374	 +1.3305 
 Australian/Doll  AUD=		0.7062		 0.7111	  -0.69%		 +0.20%	  +0.7129	 +0.7053 
 ar																							  

 Euro/Swiss	   EURCHF=	 1.1180		 1.1197	  -0.15%		 -0.66%	  +1.1203	 +1.1169 
 Euro/Sterling	EURGBP=	 0.8534		 0.8558	  -0.28%		 -5.01%	  +0.8607	 +0.8531 
 NZ			   NZD=		0.6744		 0.6804	  -0.88%		 +0.40%	  +0.6804	 +0.6740 
 Dollar/Dollar																				   

 Dollar/Norway	NOK=		8.6107		 8.5810	  +0.35%		 -0.32%	  +8.6301	 +8.5872 
 Euro/Norway	  EURNOK=	 9.6410		 9.6253	  +0.16%		 -2.68%	  +9.6581	 +9.6212 
 Dollar/Sweden	SEK=		9.3310		 9.2810	  +0.39%		 +4.10%	  +9.3427	 +9.2840 
 Euro/Sweden	  EURSEK=	 10.4479		10.4068	 +0.39%		 +1.79%	  +10.4535	+10.4039 
	 
All spots FX=  

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