In Asian Equity Markets indices were mostly higher in morning trade. Mainland Chinese stocks gained in early trade, with the Shanghai composite adding 0.85%. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also saw gains of 0.55%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose fractionally in morning trade as index heavyweight Fast Retailing added more than 1.5%. The Topix, on the other hand, fell 0.21%. Over in South Korea, the Kospi gained 0.23%. Australia’s ASX 200 advanced 0.55% as almost all the sectors gained.

In Currency Markets the U.S. dollar retained modest gains on Monday after a U.S. jobs report put to bed fears of a sharper slowdown in the world’s largest economy. The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was little changed at 97.383 after edging up 0.1 percent on Friday. The euro was flat at $1.1218 after dipping slightly against the dollar on Friday. The Australian dollar fell 0.15 percent to $0.7095 in the wake of declining prices of commodities such as copper. Against the yen, the dollar was a shade lower at 111.65.

In Commodities Markets oil prices rose to five-month highs on Monday, driven up by OPEC’s ongoing supply cuts, U.S. sanctions against Iran and Venezuela and healthy U.S. jobs data. International benchmark Brent futures were at $70.69 per barrel on Monday, up 35 cents, or 0.5 percent from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude were up 35 cents, or 0.6 percent, at $63.43 per barrel. Brent and WTI both hit their highest levels since November last year at $70.76 and $63.48 per barrel, respectively, early on Monday.

In US Equity Markets stocks rose on Friday boosted by better-than-expected job growth in March, which eased concerns of a domestic slowdown, and hopes that the United States and China would resolve their trade dispute. The S&P 500 was up 0.35%, at 2,889.52 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.51%, at 7,931.77. Energy stocks jumped 1.45%, the most among the eight major S&P indexes. Intel Corp fell 1% after Wells Fargo downgraded the chipmaker’s stock to “market perform” from “outperform”.

In Bond Markets the gap between yields of longer-dated and shorter-dated U.S. Treasury yields narrowed on Friday as data showed wage growth slowed in March even as employers added more workers, evidence that inflation remained tame. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was 2.5007%, down 0.009 basis point. It hit a two-week high of 2.544% shortly after the release of the March jobs report. Ten-year yields rose over 8 basis points on the week, their first weekly rise in a month.