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Currency Markets the dollar edged up to a nine-day high against a basket of currencies on Thursday, with the euro sagging as the European Central Bank showed no sign of stepping away from monetary easing anytime soon. The U.S. currency was up 0.3 percent at 111.385 yen , putting some distance between the four-month low of 110.110 it plumbed on Monday. The euro fell 0.2 percent to $1.0745, having drifted down from a 4-1/2-month high of $1.0906 scaled on Monday. The pound inched up 0.1 percent to $1.2450 following choppy moves the previous day. The Australian dollar lost 0.1 percent to $0.7665 and the New Zealand dollar fell 0.2 percent to $0.7021 against the resurgent dollar. The dollar index was up 0.1 percent at 100.10.
Commodities Markets oil prices fell on Thursday, ending two days of increases as record U.S. crude inventories outweighed a fall in gasoline stocks and disruptions in Libyan supplies. Prices for front-month Brent crude futures were at $52.31 per barrel, down 11 cents from their last close. In the United States, West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell 4 cents to $49.47 a barrel. U.S. crude inventories rose 867,000 barrels in the week ending March 24. Total inventories were at a record of nearly 534 million barrels, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Wednesday. Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,249.85 an ounce and spot silver fell 0.4 percent to $18.12 an ounce.
US Equity Markets the benchmark S&P 500 eked out a gain on Wednesday as strength in the energy and consumer sectors offset declines in financial shares and investors began looking ahead to first-quarter earnings season. The S&P 500 gained 0.11 percent, to 2,361.13 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.38 percent, to 5,897.55. The consumer discretionary sector rose 0.6 percent as retailers such as Nordstromand Kohl's rose. Amazon.com rose 2.1 percent and hit an all-time high, giving the biggest boost to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Vertex Pharmaceuticals rose 20.5 percent after the company's cystic fibrosis treatment succeeded in a late-stage study.
Bond Markets Japanese government bond prices were weaker on Thursday as the longer-dated maturities came under profit taking following large gains, but the market came off lows after an auction of two-year debt attracted sufficient investor demand. June 10-year JGB futures were down 0.05 point at 150.40 after stooping to 150.33 earlier in the session. The two-year yield was 2 basis points higher at minus 0.235 percent after rising to as high as minus 0.230 percent. The 30-year yield rose 1.5 basis points to 0.835 percent.
Asian Equity Markets Japan's Nikkei index edged down on Thursday morning pressured by a pause in the weak yen trend, while mining shares firmed on gains in oil prices. The Nikkei fell 0.2 percent to 19,175.10 in midmorning trade. The broader Topix declined 0.4 percent to 1,536.23 and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 fell 0.4 percent to 13,731.70. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan was down 0.3 percent, stepping back from morning trade when it nudged close its loftiest levels since June 2015. Australian stocks firmed 0.3 percent, helped by an overnight gain in oil prices. The Shanghai composite lost 1.12 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.47 percent.
