In Asian Equity Markets shares  rose on Monday, tracking gains seen on Wall Street as U.S. bond yields receded from recent four-year highs.  Japan’s Nikkei 225 advanced 244.11 points, or 1.12 percent, after recording gains of more than 300 points earlier in the day. Technology stocks, financials and automakers traded higher on the day. Among index heavyweights, SoftBank Group jumped 1.57 percent and Fast Retailing rose 1.38 percent. Elsewhere, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi was mostly flat, last trading 0.04 percent above the flat line. Amid the mixed tech sector, heavyweight Samsung Electronics hovered around the flat line to trade higher by 0.04 percent after unveiling its new Galaxy S9 model on Sunday. Shares of chipmaker SK Hynix advanced 0.39 percent.

In Currency Markets the US dollar slipped on Monday, losing some of its recent momentum as U.S. bond yields sagged, although moves were tempered by caution ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s first congressional testimony. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, eased 0.1 percent to 89.775. It gained nearly 0.9 percent last week and pulled away from a three-year low near 88.25 set on Feb. 16. The focus this week is on Powell’s congressional testimony on monetary policy and the economy. Against the yen, the dollar eased 0.3 percent to 106.61 yen. There was talk of dollar-selling by Japanese exporters ahead of the month-end. The euro firmed 0.1 percent to $1.2308, after falling 1 percent last week.

In Commodities Markets oil prices extended gains to hit their highest level in nearly three weeks on Monday, supported by comments from Saudi Arabia that it would continue to curb exports in line with the OPEC-led effort to cut global supplies. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was up 0.3 percent, at $63.75 a barrel by after rising 3 percent last week. London Brent crude gained 12 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $67.43, after climbing nearly 4 percent last week. Hedge funds and money managers upped their bullish wagers on U.S. crude oil for the first time in four weeks, data showed on Friday. U.S. energy companies last week added one oil rig, the fifth weekly increase in a row, bringing the total count up to 799, the highest level since April 2015.

In US Equity Markets stocks rallied on Friday, lifted by gains in technology stocks and a retreat in Treasury yields as the Federal Reserve eased concerns about the path of interest rate hikes this year. the S&P 500 gained 1.60 percent, to 2,747.30 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.77 percent, to 7,337.39. Tech shares climbed 2.17 percent led by gains in Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which rose 10.5 percent and HP Inc, up 3.5 percent.  For the week, the Dow rose 0.37 percent, the S&P advanced 0.56 percent and the Nasdaq gained 1.35 percent. Blue Buffalo Pet Products jumped 17.23 percent after General Mills said it would buy the natural pet food maker for $8 billion. General Mills was the biggest percentage decline on S&P 500, falling 3.59 percent.

In Bond Markets U.S. Treasury prices gained on Friday as uncertainty about recent stock market volatility helped boost demand for the bonds and as investors re-balanced portfolios ahead of month-end. Fixed-income index extensions this month are larger than normal, which may be driving more month-end activity. Benchmark 10-year notes gained 14/32 in price to yield 2.868 percent. The yields have fallen from a four-year high of 2.957 percent on Wednesday. Bonds were also supported on Friday by the completion of $258 billion in new supply this week, which was the second largest ever over a three-day period.