In Asian Equity Markets the Nikkei 225 saw a decline of 0.41 percent, as video game company Nintendo’s stock fell around 4.4 percent. South Korea’s Kospi bucked the overall trend, rising 0.12 percent, but major tech names such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix still traded down. Down Under, the ASX 200 fell 0.94 percent down, as the telecommunications sector lost some earlier gains but remained up by 1.98 percent after Telstra lowered its guidance for fiscal 2019 to account for the release of the corporate plan for Australia’s National Broadband Network. Telstra’s shares jumped 2.65 percent in the morning.

In Currency Markets the US dollar fell on Thursday, pressured by the pound which rose after fears of Britain leaving the European Union with no comprehensive agreement faded, although skittish emerging market currencies helped limit the greenback’s retreat. The dollar index against a basket of six major currencies stood at 95.034, down 0.15 percent after shedding nearly 0.3 percent overnight when it was nudged away from a two-week high of 95.737. The catalyst behind the dollar’s fall was the pound, which jumped nearly 1 percent at one point after Bloomberg reported that the United Kingdom and Germany were prepared to drop a key sticking point in Brexit negotiations.

In Commodities Markets oil prices fell on Thursday as emerging market woes weighed on sentiment, while a deadline neared for a potential new round of U.S. tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese goods. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $68.47 per barrel, down 25 cents, or 0.4 percent, from their last settlement. International Brent crude futures fell 27 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $77.0 a barrel. Crude inventories fell by 1.17 million barrels to 404.5 million barrels in the week to Aug. 31, while refinery crude runs rose by 198,000 barrels per day, the API data showed.

In US Equity Markets the Nasdaq fell more than 1 percent on Wednesday, dented by technology stocks after Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc executives defended their companies before skeptical U.S. lawmakers. Twitter shares fell 6.1 percent. Facebook shares fell 2.3 percent, contributing heavily to both the Nasdaq’s and the S&P 500’s declines. The Dow, however, ended out a slight gain. The S&P 500 lost 0.28 percent, to 2,888.6 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.19 percent, to 7,995.17. Tech and consumer discretionary stocks were the biggest weights on the S&P 500. The S&P 500 technology index fell 1.5 percent, and the S&P 500 consumer discretionary index fell 1.1 percent.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury prices reversed earlier losses on Wednesday after a German spokesman contradicted an earlier report that the British and German governments had abandoned key Brexit demands. Yields had risen after Bloomberg said Germany was ready to accept a less detailed agreement on future economic and trade ties between Britain and the EU. Benchmark 10-year notes gained 1/32 in price on the day to yield 2.900 percent, down from 2.902 percent on Tuesday. They rose to 2.917 percent after the Bloomberg report, the highest since Aug. 10.