• The dollar huddled near a 10-month trough on Monday as upbeat Chinese news and the prospect of only gradual policy tightening in the United States sent investors piling into leveraged positions in higher yielding currencies and risky assets.
The was hovering at $1.1458 and not far off major resistance at $1.1489. The U.S. dollar index was at 95.212having touched its lowest since September.
The dollar did regain a little ground on the yen to 112.64, having shed a big figure on Friday on news of surprisingly soft readings for U.S. consumer prices and retail sales.
• China's economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter as industrial output picked up and investment remained strong, though analysts expect growth to slow over the remainder of the year as policymakers seek to reduce financial risk.
The economy grew 6.9 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, the same rate as the first quarter, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected the economy to expand 6.8 percent in the April-June quarter.
• A major, global cyber attack could trigger an average of $53 billion (40.48 billion pounds) of economic losses, a figure on par with a catastrophic natural disaster such as U.S. Superstorm Sandy in 2012, Lloyd's of London said in a report on Monday.
• Brexit Secretary David Davis launches a round of negotiations on Britain's withdrawal from the European Union on Monday when he meets the EU's Michel Barnier for four days of talks between their teams in Brussels.
Negotiators will break into groups discussing four key areas of priorities before a planned news conference on Thursday.
Working groups will focus on three areas: citizens' rights; the EU demand that Britain pays some 60 billion euros ($70 billion) to cover ongoing EU budget commitments; and other loose ends, such as what happens to British goods in EU shops on Brexit Day.
A fourth set of talks, run by Davis and Barnier's deputies Oliver Robbins and Sabine Weyand, will focus on curbing problems in Northern Ireland once a new EU land border separates the British province from EU member Ireland to the south. Some of that will have to wait for clarity on future trade relations.
• Oil prices inched up on Monday, supported by a slowdown in the growth of rigs looking for crude in the United States and because of strong refinery demand from China.
Brent crude futures were at $49.02 per barrel at 0656 GMT, up 11 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $46.64 per barrel, up 10 cents, or 0.2 percent.
Reference: Reuters
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