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By Nigel Stephenson
Shares rose in Europe and Asia on
Monday, helped by commodity stocks as the dollar held close to more than
three-week lows hit after surprisingly weak jobs data led investors to rule out
a rise in
The diminishing prospect of a
near-term rate hike, which had looked very likely, kept yields on low-risk U.S.
Treasuries near lows touched after Friday's data while German equivalents fell
closer to record levels.
The focus for traders and
investors shifted to a speech later on Monday by Fed Chair Janet Yellen.
Elsewhere, sterling fell more than
1 percent after opinion polls published over the weekend showed a pick-up in
support for
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300
stocks index .FTEU3 gained 0.1 percent.
The price of copper CMCU3 hit its
highest in four weeks and the gold price XAU= its highest in two while Brent
crude oil rose above $50 a barrel on dollar weakness and the Fed outlook.
MSCI's broadest index of
Asia-Pacific shares outside
However, a stronger yen against
the dollar helped push
The dollar, which suffered its
biggest one-day drop against a basket of major currencies .DXY in four months
on Friday, recovered some of the lost ground on Monday.
After hitting a one-month low of
106.35 yen JPY= on Friday, the dollar rose 0.6 percent
to 107.12 yen. It also rose 0,1 percent to $1.1356 per euro EUR=.
Yellen speaks at the World Affairs
Council of Philadelphia at 1630 GMT (12:30 p.m. EDT).
"Rate hike expectations for
June have disappeared. And while the focus has shifted to July, we expect the
dollar to be rather subdued this week, with not much of economic data out of
the
Sterling GBP= fell 0.7 percent to $1.4420, having
earlier fallen more than 1 percent to a low $1.4350 on the polls showing
increased support for "Brexit".
U.S. 10-year yields US10YT=RR,
which fell to 1.697 percent, their lowest in almost two months, on Friday,
stood at 1.706 percent, fractionally up on the day.
BUND YIELDS DIP
German 10-year Bunds DE10YT=TWEB,
the benchmark for euro zone borrowing costs, dipped to 0.069 percent, shrugging
off a deeper-than-expected fall in German industrial orders. Bund yields fell
on Friday as far as 0.065 percent, their lowest in more than a year, and were
still close to a record low of 0.05 percent hit in April 2015.
The British opinion polls and
gains by the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement in weekend Italian municipal
elections also supported Bunds.
"We have a poll showing the
leave camp in the lead in the
Brent crude LCOc1 last traded at
$50.18 a barrel, up more than 1 percent on the day, also helped by attacks on
Nigerian oil infrastructure.