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Currency Markets the dollar recouped some ground after falling to a two-week low against the yen in Asian trading on Monday, but it lacked momentum as investors awaited this week's speech by U.S. President Donald Trump for clues on tax reform. The dollar added 0.2 percent to 112.20 yen after falling as low as 111.920 yen earlier in the session, its lowest since Feb. 9. The euro was steady on the day at $1.0562 as concerns about France's upcoming election continued to weigh on the single currency. Sterling skidded 0.4 percent to $1.2425. The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. unit against a basket of six major rivals, benefited from sterling's weakness and edged up 0.1 percent to 101.16.
In Commodities Markets oil prices edged higher on Monday, with Brent oil set to rise for five out of seven sessions as a global supply glut appears to ease, but rising U.S. production limited gains. Brent crude oil climbed 0.2 percent to $56.09 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate added 0.1 percent to $54.04 a barrel. Spot gold was little changed at $1,256 per ounce. The metal hit its highest since Nov. 11 at $1,260.10 in the previous session. Spot silver climbed 0.2 percent to $18.38 an ounce. Platinum rose 0.3 percent to $1,026.10, having marked its strongest in nearly 5 months at $1,030.20 earlier in the session. Palladium rose 0.1 percent to $769.25.
US Equity Markets stocks edged higher on Friday, with the Dow extending its streak of record-setting gains to 11 days, as increases in utilities and other safety plays outweighed declines in financials. The Dow rose 0.05 percent, to end at 20,821.76, the S&P 500 gained 0.15 percent, to 2,367.34 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.17 percent, to 5,845.31. Utilities, up 1.4 percent were the best performing of the 11 major S&P sectors, lifted by a 3.1 gain in Public Service Enterprise Group after its quarterly results. Hewlett Packard Enterprise fell 6.9 percent after the company cut its full-year profit forecast. J.C. Penney fell 5.8 percent after the department store operator reported a bigger-than-expected fall in same-store sales for the holiday quarter.
Bond Markets Japanese government bond prices rose on Monday, with the five-year yield hitting a three-month low, on relief over the Bank of Japan's bond buying and caution on U.S. President Donald Trump's speech later in the week. The benchmark 10-year JGB yield fell 1.0 basis point to 0.050 percent, its lowest level in about a month. The 20-year yield fell 2.5 basis points to a one-month low of 0.620 percent, while the 30-year fell 3.5 basis points to 0.810 percent.
Asian Equity Markets stocks erased early losses but stayed below 19-month highs on Monday as a renewed fall in sovereign bond yields on political concerns prompted some investors to move to the sidelines after a recent rally. The Nikkei was down 1.4 percent at 19,012.43 points by midmorning, after falling to as low as 18,995.55, its weakest level since Feb. 5. The broader Topix fell 1.3 percent to 1,529.40 and the JPX-Nikkei Index 400 declined 1.4 percent to 13,700.22. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan was flat after declining 0.3 percent in early trades. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 traded down 0.12 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.28 percent and the Shanghai composite lost 0.20 percent.
