In Asian Equity Markets stocks skidded on Friday, dragged down by declines in Chinese tech stocks, while elsewhere trading was choppy amid hawkish U.S. monetary policy, shifts in Chinese economic policy, and ongoing ructions in commodity markets amid the war in Ukraine. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.47 percent, but after earlier gains was nonetheless up 0.5 percent on the week, while Japan’s Nikkei was little changed, having closed the previous day at a nine-week high. Australian stocks edged higher with miners to the fore, but Chinese blue chips fell 1.23 percent.

In Currency Markets the beaten-down yen bounced in Asia trade on Friday as the Bank of Japan seemed in no rush to counter an increase in Japanese bond yields, while commodity currencies headed for a second consecutive weekly gain as export prices remained high. After touching a six-year low of 122.44 per dollar in the morning, by the Tokyo afternoon the yen had snapped a five-day losing streak and was up as far at 1 percent to 121.18. The U.S. dollar index edged 0.3 percent lower to 92.437 and is also broadly steady for the week. Sterling nudged higher to $1.3221.

In US Equity Markets stocks rallied more than 1 percent on Thursday, extending the market’s recent rebound, as investors snapped up beaten-down shares of chipmakers and big growth names and as oil prices fell. The Dow rose 1.02 percent, to 34,707.94, the S&P 500 gained 1.43 percent, to 4,520.16 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.93 percent, to 14,191.84. Nvidia Corp’s stock gained 9.8 percent, leading a rally across the chip sector and hitting its highest level since mid-January. Intel Corp climbed 6.9 percent, and both stocks helped to boost the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.

In Commodities Markets crude prices slid 2 percent on Thursday after the European Union (EU) could not agree on a plan to boycott Russian oil and on reports that exports from Kazakhstan’s Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal could partially resume. Brent futures fell 2.1 percent, to settle at $119.03 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 2.3 percent, to settle at $112.34. Spot gold was up 1 percent at $1,963.21 per ounce. Silver climbed 2 percent to $25.55 per ounce, platinum gained 0.4 percent to $1,024.50, and palladium rose 0.6 percent to $2,525.72.

In European Equity Markets stocks fell on Thursday, as the war in Ukraine entered its second month and Western countries bolstered Ukraine aid and expanded sanctions on Russia at a special NATO summit. The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.2 percent by close after struggling for direction throughout the day. Banks fell 0.7 percent, while retail stocks were led lower by a 3.3 percent decrease in British clothing retailer Next after it trimmed its sales and profit forecast for 2022-23. Meanwhile, Russia stocks climbed 4.4 percent as some trading resumed after a month-long hiatus.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasuries resumed a sell-off on Thursday, driving bond yields higher, after fresh data added to fears that high inflation will keep the Federal Reserve on track to combat rising prices with a series of interest rate hikes. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes rose 2.3 basis points to 2.344 percent, slowing a torrid jump earlier this week. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell 1 basis points to 2.510 percent. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, rose 0.9 basis point to 2.122 percent.