Currencies

• EUR/USD The euro was headed for its first weekly gain in a month versus the dollar as traders increased bets the European Central Bank will tighten monetary policy and Greece progressed in staving off a default.
  • ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet repeated yesterday that policy makers are keen to curb inflation, highlighting chances of a rate increase at their meeting on July 7.
  • The euro was at $1.4509 as of 1:38 p.m. in Tokyo from $1.4502 in New York yesterday.


• USD/JPY The dollar rose against the yen before a report that may show U.S. consumer confidence improved, suggesting the world's largest economy is recovering.
  • The dollar advanced to 80.87 yen from 80.56 as of 10:12 a.m. in Tokyo and was trading at 80.67 around 7 a.m. London time.


• GBP/USD Sterling weakened versus most of its 16 major peers yesterday.
  • U.K. consumer confidence fell more than economists forecast this month (-25 from -23).
  • Sterling was little changed at $1.6058 yesterday, after earlier reaching $1.5973 and was trading at $1.6071 around 7 a.m. London time.

Commodities

• Gold futures fell on Thursday for the first time in three days as traders favored riskier assets after another successful austerity vote in Greece.
  • Immediate-delivery gold was little changed at $1,498.66 an ounce at 9:47 a.m. in Singapore after dropping 0.8 percent yesterday.
  • The August-delivery contract was also little changed at $1,499.90 an ounce on the Comex in New York.

• Oil declined as signs of slowing manufacturing growth in China and the U.S., the world's biggest energy users, stoked speculation fuel demand may weaken.
  • Futures for August delivery declined as much as 79 cents to $94.63 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at $94.78 at 2:29 p.m. Sydney time.
  • Brent oil for August settlement slid 64 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $111.84 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange.

Equities

• U.S. stocks rallied amid increased optimism Greece will avoid default and after American business activity improved.
  • Caterpillar Inc. (CAT), United Technologies Corp. (UTX) and 3M Co. (MMM) climbed at least 1.8 percent.
  • The S&P 500 advanced 1 percent to 1,320.64 at 4 p.m. in New York.
  • The Dow average gained 152.92 points, or 1.3 percent, to 12,414.34 today.


• European stocks ended June on a strong note amid better-than-expected U.S. data and a second positive vote in Greece on an austerity plan.
  • The U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 1.4% to 5936.13.
  • Germany's DAX climbed 1.1% to 7376.24 and France's CAC-40 gained 1.5% to 3982.21.
• Asian stocks rose on optimism Greece will avoid default and after U.S. manufacturing unexpectedly expanded at a faster pace in June, decreasing risk for bank earnings and exports.
  • The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.5 percent to 135.58, as of 2:48 p.m. in Tokyo.
  • Japan's Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average gained 0.5 percent.
  • China's Shanghai Composite Index added 0.2 percent.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT