In Asian Equity Markets Japanese shares led gains in Asian stocks on Tuesday as the Bank of Japan (BOJ) defended its ultra-easy monetary policy stance, while oil slid on fears of lower demand from China as Shanghai shut down to combat a COVID-19 rise. Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.1 percent, while MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.67 percent, also helped by the first direct talks between negotiators in the Russia-Ukraine conflict in more than two weeks, even as fighting raged on. Chinese blue chips lost 0.43 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.76 percent.

In Currency Markets the U.S. dollar edged lower Tuesday while the Japanese yen recovered a little from heavy selling as the Bank of Japan continued its dovish monetary policy stance. The Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, traded 0.1 percent lower at 98.933. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar fell 0.3 percent to 123.50. Sterling rose 0.1 percent to $1.3102, ahead of the release of the latest Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, and Aussie dollar rose 0.3 percent to $0.7509.

In US Equity Markets the S&P 500 rose for a third day on Monday, as a sharp climb in shares of Tesla overshadowed weakness in energy and bank stocks, while Russia and Ukraine were poised to hold their first face-to-face peace talks in more than two weeks. The Dow rose 0.27 percent, to 34,955.89, the S&P 500 gained 0.71 percent, to 4,575.52 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.31 percent, to 14,354.90. Poly rose 52.63 percent after HP Inc said it would buy the audio and video products maker for $1.7 billion in cash. Shares of HP declined 2.74 percent.

In Commodities Markets oil prices fell about 7 percent on Monday after China’s financial hub of Shanghai launched a lockdown to curb a rise in COVID-19 infections, prompting renewed fears of demand destruction. Brent crude futures fell 6.8 percent, to settle at $112.48 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell about 7 percent, to settle at $105.96 a barrel. Spot gold fell 1.07 percent to $1,936.36 per ounce. Palladium was down 5.7 percent at $2,204.61 per ounce. Platinum fell 1.6 percent to $986.36, while silver fell 1.9 percent to $25.03.

In European Equity Markets stocks gained on Monday, led by automakers and defensive sectors, as hopes for a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine boosted sentiment, while a decrease in crude prices pressured oil stocks. The pan-European STOXX 600 index firmed 0.1 percent. British lender Barclays fell 4.1 percent after disclosing around a 450 million pound ($591.80 million) loss on mishandled structured products. German chemicals giant BASF gained 1.6 percent after HSBC upgraded the stock to “buy”, saying “resilient demand” will likely help first-quarter earnings.

In Bond Markets the U.S. Treasury yield curve, as measured by the gap between five and 30-year yields, briefly inverted on Monday for the first time since early 2006, as a sell-off in the bond market resumed, raising concerns about the risk of recession. U.S. benchmark 10-year yields pushed above the 2.5 percent marker to 2.55 percent, hitting their highest since April 2019, but were last down 3 basis points at 2.460 percent. U.S. five-year yields jumped to 2.673 percent, their highest since December 2018, while 2-year yields rose to their strongest level since mid-April 2019.