In Asian Equity Markets stocks continued to ignore record highs hit elsewhere in the world and fell in early trading on Friday, though Australia bucked the trend. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.59 percent, having closed lower on each of the past three days. Japan’s Nikkei lost 0.6 percent. Korea’s Kopsi lost 1.45 percent with Samsung Electronics falling to a seven-month low on concerns that memory chip prices may start to slip around the fourth quarter. Hong Kong fell 0.45 percent, and Chinese blue chips fell 0.21 percent.

In Currency Markets the dollar held firm on Friday, staying near its highest level in four months against a basket of currencies as investors looked for more hints from the Federal Reserve on its plans to reduce monetary stimulus. The dollar index stood firm at 92.966 and retaining a weekly gain of 0.2 percent. The euro eased slightly to $1.1732, while the dollar changed hands at 110.42 yen. Sterling was on the defensive at $1.3815 after hitting a two-week low of $1.3794 in the previous session. The Australian dollar stood at $0.7342, while the Canadian dollar eased to C$1.2520 per U.S. unit.

In US Equity Markets stocks rose for a third straight day on Thursday, with mega-cap technology stocks driving the market higher as investors warmed to jobs data showing a steady U.S. economic recovery. The Dow rose 0.04 percent, to 35,499.85, the S&P 500 gained 0.30 percent, to 4,460.83 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.35 percent, to 14,816.26. Healthcare and technology were the best- performing S&P 500 sectors. Energy weighed the most on the market.  Palantir Technologies Inc rose 11.4 percent after the U.S. data analytics firm forecast third-quarter sales above expectations.

In Commodities Markets oil prices fell on Thursday after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus would slow the recovery in global oil demand. U.S. crude oil futures settled at $69.09 per barrel, down 0.2 percent. Brent crude futures settled at $71.31 per barrel, down 0.2 percent. Spot gold was steady at $1,750.91 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures settled 0.1 percent down at $1,751.80. Silver fell 1.6 percent to $23.14 per ounce. Platinum was up 0.2 percent at $1,019.30 and palladium lost 0.2 percent to $2,631.69.

In European Equity Markets rose on Thursday, hitting yet another record high, as strong earnings from insurers and M&A activity in the UK helped offset a fall in mining stocks. The pan-European STOXX 600 index inched up 0.1 percent. British insurer Aviva rose 3.5 percent after saying it would return at least 4 billion pounds ($5.5 billion) to shareholders, while Zurich Insurance Group added 3.8 percent on reporting a 60 percent increase in first-half business operating profit. Dutch insurer Aegon NV rose 7.3 percent after posting much better than expected second-quarter earnings.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields on the longer end of the curve hovered near the unchanged mark on Thursday after struggling to maintain higher levels reached in the wake of a 30-year bond auction, while cash flowing into to an overnight Federal Reserve facility set a new record. The 30-year yield, which hit a session high of 2.035 percent following the early-afternoon auction, was last at 2.0048 percent. The benchmark 10-year yield rose as high as 1.379 percent after the auction and was last at 1.3607 percent.