· The dollar languished at three-year lows against a basket of currencies on Monday, while the euro stood tall on investors’ hopes that European Central Bank policymakers could be poised to further trim their monetary stimulus.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, slipped 0.2 percent to 90.807 .DXY after falling as far as 90.773 earlier in the session, its lowest since January 2015.
The euro added 0.1 percent to $1.2206 EUR=, in sight of a peak of $1.2218 on Friday, its highest since December2014, leaving some strategists to ponder where its next top might be.
The dollar was 0.3 percent lower at 110.73 yen JPY=, after earlier falling as far as 110.63.
· Foreign ministers from around 20 nations gather on Tuesday to discuss how to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions through diplomatic and financial pressure, but China, seen as a key player in any long-term solution, will be absent.
· North Korea has requested that working talks on sending its athletes to next month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics be held on Wednesday at the truce village of Panmunjom, the South’s unification ministry said in a mobile text message.
A ministry official said on Monday it had yet to decide whether it would accept the request from the North, which asked for the meeting to be held at Peace House on the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas.
· Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said on Sunday there was a “golden opportunity” to argue for Britain to remain in the European single market after Brexit, as no-one had yet demonstrated the benefit of loosening trade ties with the EU.
· Brent crude oil prices rose to $70 a barrel on Monday, supported by ongoing output cuts led by OPEC and Russia, and ignoring a rise in U.S. and Canadian drilling activity that points to higher future output in North America.
Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $70 per barrel at 0558 GMT, up 13cents from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were at $64.53 a barrel, up 23 cents.
Both benchmarks last week reached levels not seen since December 2014, with Brent touching $70.05 a barrel and WTI reaching as high as $64.77.
ANZ bank said on Monday oil prices had recently risen on data that continued to show the market is tightening.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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