In Asian Equity Markets Japan’s Nikkei index extended the previous session’s gains on Friday, probing 26-year highs as banking and brokerage shares rose, while Toshiba shares firmed on news of a buyer for its Westinghouse Electric unit. The Nikkei was up 0.2 percent at 23,547.78 at the end of morning trading. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan rose nearly 0.3 percent in morning trade to 584.5, with benchmark indexes in Australia and South Korea up about 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively. In Greater China, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.23 percent and the Hang Seng Index edged up 0.18 percent. Shares of Toshiba Corp were up 2.89 percent. An affiliate of Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management said on Thursday it would acquire Westinghouse Electric Co LLC, the bankrupt nuclear services company owned by Toshiba, for $4.6 billion.

In Currency Markets the euro hovered near a three-year high against the sagging dollar on Friday, while improving investor risk appetite weighed on the yen. The euro was 0.05 percent higher at $1.2074 after rising 0.45 percent overnight.  The common currency was near a 26-month high of 136.370 yen scaled overnight and on track for to gain 0.7 percent this week. The Australian dollar extended gains from the previous day and rose to $0.7870 its highest since Oct. 20, before pulling back a little to $0.7854. The loonie was headed for its third straight week of gains, touching a 2-1/2-month high of C$1.2483 per dollar on Friday. The dollar was 0.1 percent higher at 112.830 yen, adding to modest gains from Thursday. It was little changed against the yen this week, during which it had momentarily fell to a two-week low of 112.055.

In Commodities Markets oil prices decreased on Friday, falling away from highs last seen in 2015, as rising production in the United States undermined the 10 percent rally from lows hit in December that was driven by tightening supply and political tensions in OPEC member Iran. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were at $61.92 a barrel, 9 cents below their last close though still near to the $62.21 high reached the previous day that was the most since May 2015. Brent crude futures were at $67.96 a barrel, 11 cents below their last settlement. U.S. commercial crude inventories fell by 7.4 million barrels in the week to Dec. 29, to 424.46 million barrels, according to data from the Energy Information Administration. Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,321.86 an ounce and spot silver was down 0.1 percent at $17.21.

In US Equity Markets the Dow industrials broke above the 25,000 level for the first time on Thursday and other major indexes hit closing record highs again, propelled by strong global economic data that extended the New Year’s rally for the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.61 percent, to 25,075.13, the S&P 500 gained 0.40 percent, to 2,723.99 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.18 percent, to 7,077.92. Financials led gains on the S&P 500 on Thursday, with Wells Fargo up 1.3 percent, JPMorgan Chase up 1.4 percent and Goldman Sachs also up 1.4 percent.  Intel Corp was down 1.8 percent, adding to Wednesday’s losses, as investors worried about the potential financial liability from recently disclosed security flaws in its microprocessors. Rival Advanced Micro Devices rose 4.9 percent.

In Bond Markets Japanese government bond prices were flat across the board on Friday, capped by an ongoing rise in the equity market. The five-year and 30-year yields were unchanged at minus 0.100 percent and 0.810 percent, respectively, while the 10-year yield inched up 0.5 basis point to 0.055 percent. Yields on U.S. government bonds rose modestly on Thursday, a day before the December payrolls report, which is expected to show further improvement in the jobs market, though some traders worry that wage growth may fall short of expectations. Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields were 2.454 percent, down from a high of 2.485 percent on Thursday morning. Two-year yields were at 1.960 percent after hitting 1.976 percent earlier in the day. The five-year yield was 2.270 percent, down from 2.292 percent, its highest level since April 2011.

Economic Calendar

• 11:00 GMT+0 EU CPI Flash Estimate y/y
• 14:30 GMT+0 CAD Employment Change
• 14:30 GMT+0 CAD Trade Balance
• 14:30 GMT+0 CAD Unemployment Rate
• 14:30 GMT+0 US Average Hourly Earnings m/m
• 14:30 GMT+0 US Non-Farm Employment Change
• 14:30 GMT+0 US Unemployment Rate
• 16:00 GMT+0 US ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI