In Asian Equity Markets indices traded cautiously Thursday morning. The Shanghai composite slipped around 0.1 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was largely flat. Over in South Korea, the Kospi rose around 0.3 percent as shares of chip-maker SK Hynix jumped more than 3 percent despite reporting quarterly earnings which were below expectations. Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.26 percent in morning trade while the Topix index recovered from earlier losses to gain fractionally.

In Currency Markets the U.S. dollar eased against its peers on Thursday, as concerns over global growth, a U.S. government shutdown and U.S.-Sino trade talks kept a tight lid on the greenback. The Aussie dollar was 0.2 percent higher at $0.7156 supported by solid jobs data while kiwi dollar gained 0.1 percent to $0.6793. In Asian trading, the yen was marginally higher at 109.54, after weakening 0.2 percent versus the greenback in the previous session.

In Commodities Markets oil prices steadied on Thursday, but concerns over global growth and a sharp rise in U.S. stocks kept the market under pressure. International Brent crude oil futures were at $61.17 a barrel, up 3 cents from their last settlement, having closed down 0.6 percent in the previous session. .S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $52.63 per barrel, up 3 cents from their last settlement. WTI futures closed little changed on Wednesday.

In US Equity Markets indices ended slightly higher on Wednesday after a spate of upbeat earnings reports, but lingering concerns about trade tensions and the longest U.S. government shutdown ever limited the advance. IBM provided the biggest boost to the Dow, rising 8.5 percent after cloud and software services helped its profit come in above analyst estimates and the company offered better-than-expected guidance for 2019. The S&P 500  gained 0.22 percent, to 2,638.7 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.08 percent, to 7,025.77.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields rose on Wednesday as Wall Street stock prices stabilized a day after posting heavy losses, reducing safe-haven demand for bonds even as investors remained worried about slowing economic growth and trade tensions. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was 2.753 percent, up 2.1 basis points from late on Tuesday. It reached a three-week peak at 2.799 percent last Friday.