Currencies

• EUR/USD The EUR continues to get support from the perception that ECB will be more aggressive than the BOE, Fed or BOJ in tightening monetary policy. The EUR/USD opened the Asian session at 1.4477 and settled between 1.4460/75 heading into the afternoon session.


• USD/JPY The yen fell against USD after reports showed that U.S. retail sales improved, damping demand for the safety of Japan's currency. Japan's currency slid 0.6 percent to 84.11 per dollar.


• GBP/USD Sterling dropped to its lowest level in a week against the dollar. Consumer prices rose 4 percent from a year earlier after a 4.4 percent increase in February, the Office for National Statistics said. The Bank of England kept the main rate at 0.5% April 7, while the European Central Bank raised its main refinancing rate to 1.25 percent from 1 percent on the same day to contain above-target inflation. The British pound declined 0.6 percent to $1.6256, after falling to $1.6227

Commodities

GOLD has attracted investors as the precious metal has rallied for 10 consecutive years through to last year. Immediate-delivery gold touched a record $1,478.18 an ounce on April 11.

OIL fell for a third day after the International Energy Agency and the International Monetary Fund said that prices of more than $100 a barrel are starting to hurt the global economy. Crude oil for May delivery dropped 0.4 percent to $105.82 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:14 a.m. in Tokyo.

Equities

• U.S. stocks fell, sending the Standard & Poor's 500 Index lower for a fourth day, as Japan raised the severity rating of its nuclear crisis to the highest level, oil plunged and Alcoa Inc.'s sales missed estimates. The S&P 500 declined 0.8 percent to 1,314.16 at 4 p.m. in New York. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 117.53 points, or 1 percent, to 12,263.58 today.


• Asian stocks advanced for the first time in three days as Japan's carmakers climbed after Nomura Holdings Inc. said they were "oversold" and oil and metal prices arrested declines Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 1 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.3 percent, while China's Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite Index declined 0.2 percent.


• European Markets: London's FTSE 100 may put on 9 points at the open today to 5,973, while the Dax in Germany may add 15 points to 7,118 and the CAC in France 8 points to 3,985.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT