In Asian Equity Markets stocks rose on Thursday on hopes for China’s emergence from the pandemic, while the dollar found support after analysts spotted a warning against betting too heavily on rate cuts this year in minutes from the last Fed policy meeting. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 1 percent. Japan’s Nikkei bounced off a three-month low. Chinese stocks were the best performers in the region, with the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes rallying 1.8 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also jumped 0.9 percent.

In Currency Markets the dollar inched up on Thursday but struggled to make bigger gains as the boost from a still hawkish Federal Reserve was tempered by investors’ growing appetite for riskier assets, driven by China’s reopening. The greenback gained some ground on Thursday after a muted reaction to the Fed’s hawkish rhetoric overnight, with sterling last 0.16 percent lower at $1.2039, after rising 0.76 percent in the previous session. The euro was steady at $1.0605, following a more than 0.5 percent overnight gain. The kiwi fell 0.24 percent to $0.6276, the Japanese yen firmed at 132.58 per dollar.

In US Equity Markets stocks rose on Wednesday but below its session peak after volatile trading following the release of minutes from the Fed’s last meeting, which showed officials laser-focused on controlling inflation even as they agreed to slow their interest rate hiking pace. The Dow rose 0.4 percent, to 33,269.77; the S&P 500 gained 0.75 percent, to 3,852.97; and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.69 percent, to 10,458.76. Energy was the weakest of the S&P’s 11 major industry sectors, closing up 0.06 percent, while real estate was the strongest, closed up 2.3 percent, followed by a 1.7 percent gain in materials.

In Commodities Markets oil fell by more than $4 a barrel on Wednesday, posting the steepest percentage loss in the first two trading days of any year for over 3 decades, as investors worried about fuel demand as the global economy slows and COVID-19 cases grow in China. Brent futures settled at $77.84 a barrel, falling 5.2 percent. U.S. crude settled at $72.84 a barrel, shedding 5.3 percent. Spot gold rose 0.7 percent to $1,851.41 per ounce. Silver fell 1 percent to $23.74 per ounce, platinum was down 0.6 percent, to $1,077.03, while palladium jumped 5.4 percent to $1,802.13.

In European Equity Markets stocks closed higher for the third straight session on Wednesday as a lower inflation reading from France, the euro zone’s second-biggest economy, and better-than-expected business activity data boosted sentiment. The pan-European STOXX 600 closed 1.4 percent higher, while France’s CAC 40 jumped 2.3 percent. China-exposed luxury companies LVMH and Richemont rose 5.0 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively, lifting the index. Britain’s commodity-heavy FTSE 100 lagged European peers as prices of oil and base metals fell.

In Bond Markets the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield fell on Wednesday, putting it on track for its longest streak of declines in more than five months after the release of the minutes from the most recent meeting of the Federal Reserve. The yield on 10-year Treasury notes was down 9.2 basis points to 3.700 percent, on track for its biggest one-day decline since Dec. 13. The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was down 7.7 basis points to 3.814 percent. The two-year U.S. Treasury yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations, was down 3.3 basis points at 4.372 percent.