FED MINUTES

The dollar was also under pressure amid ongoing uncertainty over who will be the next Federal Reserve chair, with the predictions market site, PredictIt, favouring Fed Governor Jerome Powell as the most likely candidate. 

While Powell is regarded as more hawkish than incumbent Janet Yellen, whose term expires in February, analysts say he probably wouldn’t look to unwind stimulus as aggressively as some of the candidates on the list. 

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan, who votes this year on Fed policy, had also said overnight that he wants to see more signs of upward inflation before raising interest rates again. 

The weaker dollar continued to help commodities. U.S. crude CLcv1 rose 19 cents to $51.11 per barrel and Brent LCOcv1 added 13 cents to $56.74, also on signs of tighter near-term supply.

Gold prices hovered around their highest in two weeks, with spot gold XAU= at $1,289.06 an ounce, while industrial bellwether metal copper was just below a 1-month high.