• The yen was the major mover among the G10 group of developed world currencies on Friday, gaining another half percent against the dollar as nerves over stock market valuations and the future of an 8-year global rally seeped into other assets.
The euro had recovered all of the ground it lost after European Central Bank policymakers warned of an overshoot in the currency in the minutes from last month’s policy meeting, to trade 0.2 percent higher at $1.1748.
By 0718 the yen was trading 0.5 percent higher at 109.04 yen per dollar. The dollar index fell 0.2 percent to 93.472.
• U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis will meet his South Korean counterpart, Defense Minister Song Young-moo, later this month, the Pentagon said on Thursday after a phone call between the two officials on the eve of a U.S.-Japanese security meeting.
• Chinese banks are set to see a slowdown in lending growth in the second half of the year, having exhausted most of their annual credit quota, raising the spectre of corporate defaults as financing costs climb further in the world's No.2 economy.
• Oil prices were largely steady on Friday, torn between a broad-based selloff across markets and signs that crude supplies are gradually tightening.
Brent crude futures, LCOc1 the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $51.12 per barrel at 0711 GMT, up 9 cents from their last close but still set for a weekly drop of some 2 percent.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $47.17 a barrel, up 8 cent but also on track to fall over the week, down over 3 percent.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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