In Asian Equity Markets stocks firmed and oil slid on Monday on hopes for progress in Russian-Ukraine peace talks even as fighting continued to rage, while bond markets braced for rate rises in the United States and UK this week. Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 0.9 percent, but MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was dragged down 1.6 percent by losses in China. Chinese blue chips shed 1.7 percent after a jump in coronavirus cases saw the southern city of Shenzen locked down and stoked speculation about more policy easing.

In Currency Markets the dollar hit a five-year high against the yen on Monday, as traders braced for the U.S. Federal Reserve to begin hiking rates, while reckoning the Bank of Japan remains dovish. The dollar touched 117.88 yen in Asia trade, its strongest since January 2017, at the start of a busy week of central bank meetings in the United States, Britain and Japan. The Australian dollar was last down 0.5 percent at $0.7256 and the kiwi 0.2 percent lower at $0.6791. The euro was parked at $1.0915 while sterling fell 0.2 percent to $1.3013, a 16-month low.

In US Equity Markets stocks fell on Friday as tech and growth shares led a broad decline and investors worried about the conflict in Ukraine while attention turned to the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting next week. The Dow fell 0.69 percent, to 32,944.19, the S&P 500 lost 1.30 percent, to 4,204.31 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.18 percent, to 12,843.81. Meta Platforms shares fell 3.9 percent as Russia opened a criminal case against the Facebook parent after the social network changed its hate speech rules to allow users to call for “death to the Russian invaders” in the context of the war with Ukraine.

In Commodities Markets oil prices settled higher on Friday but posted their steepest weekly decline since November, as traders assessed potential improvements to the supply outlook that has been disrupted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Brent crude futures rose 3.1 percent, on Friday, settling at $112.67 a barrel. U.S. WTI crude futures rose 3.1 percent, to settle at $109.33 a barrel. Spot gold fell 0.6 percent to $1,984.20 per ounce. Spot palladium lost 4.9 percent to $2,785.18 per ounce and silver eased 0.2 percent to $25.82 per ounce. Platinum was up 0.3 fell at $1,071.29.

In European Equity Markets stocks marked their biggest weekly gain this year, as signals from Russian President Vladimir Putin about a positive shift in talks with Ukraine helped markets end a volatile week on a firmer footing on Friday. The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 1 percent higher. The German DAX rose 1.4 percent, logging its best week in a year, while Spain’s IBEX and France’s CAC 40 were up 0.9 percent each. Britain’s FTSE rose 0.8 percent, bolstered by data that showed a strong rebound in the economy. Euro zone banks recovered 4.5 percent this week.

In Bond Markets the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose for a fifth straight day on Friday, with expectations largely cemented that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week, while comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin buoyed risk-on sentiment. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was up 1 basis point at 2.001 percent. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was slightly higher at 2.376 percent. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, was up 1.3 basis points at 1.732 percent.