In Asian Equity Markets stocks advanced on Tuesday, shrugging off a bruising Wall Street session, as Chinese markets cheered Beijing’s move to help troubled property firms, although surging cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant remain a worry for investors. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 0.81 percent after declining on Monday to the lowest in a year. Japan’s Nikkei rose 2 percent after two sessions of decline with chip-related Tokyo Electron and Advantest leading the pack, as investors bought into Monday’s heavy selloff. Australian stocks were up 0.9 percent.

In Currency Markets the dollar softened a little on Tuesday in the wake of improving market appetite for risk assets and currencies, extending its overnight losses following a blow to Democratic spending plans in Washington. The euro rose to $1.1282, and the safe haven yen lost some ground to 113.7 per dollar. The pound was soft at $1.3213 after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday he would tighten coronavirus curbs to slow the spread of the Omicron variant if needed. The Aussie dollar stemmed recent losses and was steady at $0.7112, while the New Zealand dollar stabilised at $0.6717.

In US Equity Markets main indexes fell more than 1 percent on Monday in a broad selloff as investors worried about a deluge in COVID-19 cases potentially undercutting the economic rebound and a critical blow to President Joe Biden’s domestic investment bill. The Dow fell 1.56 percent, to 34,814.3, the S&P 500 lost 1.45 percent, to 4,553.5 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.54 percent, to 14,936.35. In company news, Oracle Corp shares fell 4.5 percent after the business software maker said it would buy electronic medical records company Cerner Corp for $28.3 billion. Shares of Cerner added about 1 percent.

In Commodities Markets oil prices fell on Monday as surging cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Europe and the United States stoked investor worries that new restrictions to combat its spread could dent fuel demand. Brent crude futures fell 2.7 percent, to settle at $71.52 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 3.7 percent, to settle at $68.23 a barrel. Spot gold fell 0.2 percent to $1,793.33 per ounce. Palladium fell 2 percent to $1,746.85 per ounce, while platinum rose 0.1 percent to $930.50 per ounce. Silver shed 0.3 percent to $22.28.

In European Equity Markets stocks fell on Monday in their worst session for three weeks amid a wider equities sell-off, with investors fretting over the spectre of tighter pandemic curbs hitting the global economy as cases of the Omicron coronavirus strain surge. The pan-European STOXX 600 fell 1.4 percent. Oil companies, miners and auto stocks led declines, with all major sub-indexes ending lower. The worst performer was Novo Nordisk, which lost 11.7 percent after the Danish drugmaker said it would not be able to meet demand for its new obesity drug due to U.S. supply issues.

In Bond Markets traders sent mid-term U.S. Treasury yields lower on Monday following a blow to Democratic spending plans in Washington and on concerns about the continued spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. The yield on the three-year Treasury note was at 0.891 percent, down 3.5 basis points in morning trading. The benchmark 10-year yield was down 1.3 basis points at 1.3885 percent. The trading pushed up a closely watched part of the U.S. Treasury yield curve measuring the gap between yields on two- and 10-year Treasury notes, seen as an indicator of economic expectations.