In Asian Equity Markets stocks rose early on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street higher, though investors looked to a much-anticipated Federal Reserve policy meeting to see if the central bank would signal any change to the U.S. monetary policy outlook. Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.89 percent in early trading and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.23 percent. An early driver was Australian stocks which rose 1.03 percent, though Chinese blue chips fell 0.16 percent and Hong Kong fell 0.21 percent. All three resumed trading after being shut on Monday for a public holiday.

In Currency Markets the dollar fell marginally lower in early European trade Tuesday, but just off multi-week highs ahead of the latest two-day meeting of the Federal Reserve. The dollar index was 0.1 percent lower at 90.442, but this was still near the top of its recent range. Against yen, the dollar gained marginally to 110.09, just off a hit a seven-session high. Sterling was flat at $1.4112, and euro rose 0.1 percent to $1.2127, just above a one-month low of $1.2093 it hit last week. Aussie was flat at $0.7711, with the Reserve Bank of Australia releasing the minutes from its latest meeting earlier in the day.

In US Equity Markets the S&P 500 and Nasdaq eked out record high finishes on Monday, despite most traders being focused on this week’s Federal Reserve meeting and not on adding to existing positions. The Dow fell 0.25 percent, to 34,393.75, the S&P 500 gained 0.18 percent, to 4,255.15 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.74 percent, to 14,174.14. The S&P technology index closed at 2,515, just shy of its highest-ever finish on April 26. It was one of a half-dozen sectors that ended in positive territory. Materials and financials were the leading laggards.

In Commodities Markets oil prices ended mostly unchanged Monday, after investors drove prices to their highest levels in over two years in anticipation of rising demand. Brent settled up 17 cents at $72.86 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate fell 3 cents to settle at $70.88 a barrel. Spot gold fell 0.7 percent to $1,863.98 per ounce after hitting its lowest level since May 17 at $1,848.49. Elsewhere, silver was down 0.1 percent at $27.87 per ounce, while palladium fell 0.7 percent to $2,755.39 and platinum rose 1.3 percent to $1,164.54.

In European Equity Markets stocks ended at a record high on Monday as energy stocks rose on strength in the oil market, while expectations of accommodative monetary policy grew even as a global economic recovery picked up speed. The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.2 percent to a record-high close of 458.32 points. Energy stocks were the best performers, rising 2 percent as oil prices increased to an over two-year peak on expectations of strong global demand this year. Germany’s DAX came off a record high, while the UK’s FTSE 100 scaled its highest level since February 2020.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields rose from three-month lows on Monday as investors waited on the Fed’s meeting statement on Wednesday for new indications on when the U.S. central bank is likely to begin paring back its unprecedented monetary stimulus. Benchmark 10-year yields rose four basis points on Monday to 1.50 percent, after falling to a three-month low of 1.43 percent on Friday. Italy’s 10-year sovereign bond yield fell to eight-week lows on continued dovish signals from the ECB. Germany’s benchmark 10-year bond yield was at -0.28 percent, about 1 bps off multi-week lows hit on Friday.