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- The yen, often sought in times of financial market turmoil, has also received a strong boost this week. The dollar traded at 114.96 yen JPY= after sinking to a 15-month low of 114.205 overnight. The euro was flat at $1.1288 EUR= after scaling a four-month high of $1.1338 overnight on the dollar's broader weakness.

-  Many traders suspect those troubles will prevent the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates in the near future and look to Fed Chair Janet Yellen's congressional testimony later in the day for clues on the outlook for policy.

- After a tumultuous start to the week, markets looked to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, who will address the U.S. Congress later in the session, for fresh cues and possible relief.

While Yellen is expected to defend the Fed's first rate hike in a decade and likely insist that further rises remain on track, any signs of a departure from such a stance could provide risk assets with a breather.

- U.S. job openings surged in December and the number of Americans voluntarily quitting work hit a nine-year high, pointing to labor market strength despite a slowdown in economic growth.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, increased 261,000 to a seasonally adjusted 5.61 million in December, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS). It was the second highest reading since the series started in 2001.

Oil sinks as IEA warns of falling prices; WTI below US$28

- Oil prices sank again on Tuesday (Feb 9) as the International Energy Agency warned prices could fall further on a growing oversupply and weakening global demand growth.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for March delivery dropped US$1.75 (5.9 per cent) to US$27.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in April, the European benchmark for crude oil, dived to US$30.32 a barrel, shedding US$2.53 (7.7 percent) from Monday's settlement.Both WTI and Brent had fallen more than three per cent on Monday.

The IEA, in its monthly report on Tuesday, forecast the global oil surplus would be larger than previously expected in the first half of 2016. It noted that OPEC was responsible for the supply glut hitting the market, adding that Saudi Arabia, Iraq and sanctions-free Iran had "all turned up the taps" in January.

The IEA maintained its view that global demand growth "will ease back considerably" in 2016 to 1.2 million barrels a day from 1.6 million barrels a day in 2015.

- Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh said on Tuesday that Tehran is ready to negotiate with Saudi Arabia over the current conditions in the global oil markets, Iran's Press TV reported