• The euro pared gains after scaling a five-month high against the dollar on Monday after the centrist candidate won the first round of the French presidential election, reducing the risk of an anti-establishment shock in the final round.
The euro was up 1.1 percent at $1.0844 EUR= by midday in Asia after earlier rising as high as $1.0940, its highest since Nov. 10.
• Centrist Emmanuel Macron took a big step toward the French presidency on Sunday by winning the first round of voting and qualifying for a May 7 runoff alongside far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
A Harris survey taken on Sunday saw Macron winning the runoff by 64 percent to 36, and an Ipsos/Sopra Steria poll gave a similar result.
• Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives have a 22 point lead over Labour, an ICM poll said on Sunday ahead of a general election on June 8.
The poll showed the Conservatives at 48 percent, up 2 points from a poll last week, with Labour on 26 percent, the Liberal Democrats on 10 percent and UKIP on 8 percent.
• South Korea said on Monday it was in talks with Washington about holding joint drills with the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier strike group as it approaches waters off the Korean peninsula amid fears North Korea could conduct another nuclear test.
On Sunday, two Japanese destroyers joined the USS Carl Vinson carrier group for drills.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday he and U.S. President Donald Trump had agreed to maintain close contact over North Korea, while demanding Pyongyang show restraint as tensions in the region rise.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping called for all sides to exercise restraint on Monday in a call with U.S. President Donald Trump, as a nervous South Korea and Japan sought to join drills with a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group headed for Korean waters.
• China is confident of reaching the government's 6.5 percent GDP growth target this year, Xiao said.
The minister said the global economy still faces many risks and uncertainties, especially given the lack of clarity around the economic policies of some developed countries.
China's economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter, hitting 6.9 percent, as higher government infrastructure spending and a gravity-defying property boom helped boost industrial output by the most in over two years.
• Oil prices recovered lost ground on Monday following big losses last week, driven by expectations that OPEC will extend a pledge to cut output to cover all of 2017, although a relentless rise in U.S. drilling capped gains.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures CLc1 added 32 cents, or 0.64 percent, by 0649 GMT(2:49 a.m. ET), but were still just below the $50 mark pierced on Friday at $49.84 a barrel.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 rose 35 cents, or 0.67 percent, to $52.31 per barrel.
Reference: Reuters, CNN
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