In Asian Equity Markets stocks perked up and the dollar fell to two-week lows on Monday after U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell struck a dovish tone at the central bank’s long-awaited symposium, although investors remained cautious about prospects in China. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.65 percent to a two-week high, and Japan’s Nikkei rose 0.46 percent. Hong Kong rose 0.32 percent, Australia 0.2 percent and Korea 0.25 percent but Chinese blue chips bucked the trend, falling 0.26 percent.

In Currency Markets the dollar loitered around multi-week lows on Monday in the wake of Fed Chair Jerome Powell laying out a slower-than-expected path to rate hikes, as traders’ focus shifted to U.S. jobs figures due on Friday for clues on a tapering timeline. The dollar index fell about 0.4 percent following his comments and was little changed on Monday at a two-week low of 92.595. The Australian dollar edged lower to $0.7304 and the kiwi fell marginally to $0.7005. The euro touched its highest since early August during Asia trade, at $1.1810, and the yen rose to its strongest since last Wednesday at 109.70 per dollar.

In US Equity Markets stocks advanced on Friday as U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s remarks at the Jackson Hole Symposium calmed fears over the tapering timetable and sent investors into the weekend in a buying mood. The Dow rose 0.68 percent, to 35,453.3, the S&P 500 gained 0.88 percent, to 4,509.15 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.23 percent, to 15,129.81. Chipmaker Nvidia’s shares rose 2.4 percent after sources said it would likely seek antitrust approval from the European Union to take over British chip designer Arm.

In Commodities Markets oil prices rose 2 percent on Friday, posting their biggest weekly gains in over a year, as energy firms began shutting U.S. production in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a major hurricane expected to hit early next week. Brent futures rose 2.3 percent, to settle at $72.70 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose 2.0 percent, to settle at $68.74. Spot gold rose 1.4 percent to $1,817.21 per ounce. Silver rose 2.2 percent to $24.05 an ounce, heading for its best week since May. Platinum rose 3.2 percent to $1,010.73 an ounce, while palladium climbed 0.8 percent to $2,411.54.

In European Equity Markets stocks rose on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell showed no signs the U.S. central bank will reduce a massive stimulus program, while real estate stocks were led higher by Norway’s Entra after a major peer took a stake in the firm. The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 0.4 percent higher, with mining stocks up 1.9 percent, while real estate stocks added 1.5 percent. Entra was the best performer on the STOXX 600, rising 4.6 percent as its peer Castellum bought 11.8 percent of shares in the firm from the government pension fund in Norway.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury yields fell on Friday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell gave no new hints on when the U.S. central bank is likely to begin paring bond purchases, leading investors to assume a taper is unlikely until later in the year. Benchmark 10-year notes fell to 1.310 percent, down from around 1.341 percent before Powell’s comments were released. The yields briefly reached a two-week high of 1.375 percent on Thursday. The five-year yields fell to 0.800 percent, and are down from a more than seven-week high of 0.864 percent reached in overnight trading.