Currencies

• EUR/USD The euro gained against most major peers as Italy advanced a plan to cut its deficit before a European summit on the region's sovereign-debt crisis.
  • The euro rose 0.1 percent to $1.3404 at 2:05 p.m. in Tokyo from $1.3391 on Dec. 2, when it completed a 1.2 percent weekly advance.

• AUD/USD The Australian dollar erased gains against the U.S. currency
  • The so-called Aussie traded at $1.0211 as of 3:40 p.m. in Sydney from $1.0215 last week.

• USD/CAD Canada's dollar staged its biggest five-day rally since October after central banks including the Bank of Canada took steps this week to make it cheaper for lenders to borrow dollars during emergencies.
  • The loonie, as the currency is also known for the image of the aquatic bird on the C$1 coin, gained 2.6 percent this week to C$1.0195 per U.S. dollar in Toronto.

Commodities

• Gold prices traded steady on Monday, after posting their sharpest weekly rise in more than a month, as the euro zone kicks off a week packed with meetings and decisions crucial to the solution to its debt crisis as well as the euro.
  • Spot gold was little changed at $1,747.29 an ounce by 0326 GMT, after rising nearly 4 per cent in the previous week.
• Oil rose for a second day in New York on concern that tension in the Middle East threatens supplies and speculation that Europe will take steps to tame a debt crisis that may curb economic growth.
  • Crude for January delivery climbed as much as 77 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $101.73 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York.

Equities

• Swiss Stocks (SMI) climbed, posting their biggest weekly rally since July 2009, after a U.S. report showed the unemployment rate in the world's largest economy unexpectedly fell in November.
  • The Swiss Market Index, a measure of the biggest and most actively traded companies, advanced 0.7 percent to 5,718.85 at the close in Zurich.

• European stocks posted their biggest weekly rally in three years as central banks moved to ease the region's debt crisis and China increased cash supply for its banks to speed up growth in the world's second-largest economy.
  • The Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped 8.7 percent to 240.73, its largest weekly advance since November 2008

• Asian stocks rose for a sixth day, the longest winning streak since Oct. 13, as Italy took steps to resolve its debt problems before European Union leaders meet this week to tackle the region's crisis.
  • The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2 percent to 117.92 as of 2:40 p.m. in Tokyo with six of 10 industry groups on the index gaining..
  • Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.5 percent.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT