In Asian Equity Markets stocks rose on Tuesday, shrugging off worries about an increase in regional coronavirus infections and a subdued session on Wall Street, while inflation jitters helped push gold prices to three-month highs. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1.06 percent. Japan’s Nikkei rose as much as 2.2 percent, while Hong Kong’s stocks were up 1.24 percent. China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was 0.20 percent lower. Australia’s benchmark rose 0.49 percent, while Singapore stocks also recovered some losses, gaining 1.21 percent.

In Currency Markets the dollar decreased on Tuesday against the Canadian dollar and teetered near multi-month lows versus European currencies amid renewed expectations that the United States will not hike interest rates anytime soon. Against the euro, the dollar traded at $1.2167, close to the weakest since Feb. 26. The British pound rose to $1.4174 to reach its strongest since late February. The dollar held steady at 109.16 yen. The currency pair has been locked in a narrow range amid worries about Japan’s slow pace of vaccinations and weakness in the greenback.

In US Equity Markets stocks ended lower on Monday, weighed down by tech shares as signs of growing inflation worried investors about the potential for tighter monetary policy. The Dow fell 0.16 percent, to 34,326.01; the S&P 500 lost 0.25 percent, at 4,163.43; and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.38 percent, to 13,379.05. Of the 11 major S&P sectors that declined, technology, utilities and communication services were the biggest losers, each down between 0.7 percent and 0.9 percent. AT&T shares declined 2.69 percent, while Discovery fell about 5.04 percent.

In Commodities Markets gold prices climbed on Monday to their highest in more than three months, with the precious metal appealing to cautious investors as U.S. Treasury yields remained subdued even as stock prices fell on inflation worries. Spot gold rose 1.3 percent to $1,866.84 per ounce. Elsewhere, platinum rose 1.1 percent to $1,238.41 per ounce. Palladium rose 0.3 percent to $2,899.78, while silver rose 2.7 percent to $28.15. Oil prices climbed. Brent crude rose 1.1 percent to settle at $69.46 a barrel, while WTI crude gained 1.4 percent to settle at $66.27.

In European Equity Markets stocks ended flat on Monday as underwhelming Chinese data and caution over the spread of a COVID-19 variant outweighed optimism on the reopening of the British economy. The pan-European STOXX 600 index ended flat with travel and leisure stocks being the top losers, down 2.3 percent, while telecommunication stocks jumped the most. Drugmakers Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline jumped 1 percent and 0.7 percent respectively after their experimental COVID-19 vaccine showed a robust immune response in early-stage clinical trial results, enabling them to move to a late-stage study.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields traded little changed on Monday, shrugging off the highest prices ever paid in a May manufacturing survey for New York state, as traders mull how tolerant Federal Reserve policymakers will be of a faster pace of inflation. The yield on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes was up 1 basis point at 1.645 percent. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell 0.6 basis point to 2.3495 percent. The breakeven rate on five-year U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) was last at 2.719 percent.