A slump in oil
prices to the lowest in almost six months rattled commodity markets on
Friday and triggered a rally in safe-haven bonds, the yen and gold.
Stocks
also flinched both in Asia and Europe, catching investors that had been
expecting to spend the day mostly looking ahead to U.S. jobs data and
Sunday's French elections, on the back foot.
They had to duck for cover overnight as both Brent LCOc1 and U.S. CLc1 crude prices fell more than 3 percent to below $47 a barrel at one stage on mounting concerns about global oversupply.
Things only began to stabilize when Saudi Arabia's OPEC chief hit the wires in European hours, saying there was a growing consensus among oil pumping countries that they needed to continue to "rebalance" the market.
Oil wasn't the only commodity that suffered. Chinese iron ore futures DCIOcv1 fell almost 7 percent in Shanghai after tumbling 8 percent on Thursday
The Canadian dollar CAD=, the Australian dollar AUD= and Russia's rouble RUB= - some of the world's most commodity- sensitive currencies - were all sent spinning, falling respectively to 14-month, four-month and seven-week lows.
They all fought back, though, after the Saudi OPEC governor's comments that: "A six-month extension (to production cuts) may be needed to rebalance the market, but the length of the extension is not firm yet."
The euro EUR= meanwhile touched six-months highs of almost $1.10 ahead of France's weekend election, in which polls now expect centrist Emmanuel Macron to convincingly beat right-wing and anti-euro rival Marine Le Pen.
The gap between French and German 10-year government borrowing costs also hit a six-month low and despite the dip on the day, European shares were heading for a healthy 1.2 percent rise for the week.
The dollar .DXY and U.S. government bond yields US10YT=RR had both been nudged lower by the commodity market worries. It is set to be the fourth weekly fall on the trot for the greenback which is now at its lowest since November.
The yen JPY= and gold XAU= rose in tandem as investors took refuge in safe havens, though the latter remained on track for its biggest weekly decline in nearly six months on bets that U.S. interest rates will rise again in the coming months.
They had to duck for cover overnight as both Brent LCOc1 and U.S. CLc1 crude prices fell more than 3 percent to below $47 a barrel at one stage on mounting concerns about global oversupply.
Things only began to stabilize when Saudi Arabia's OPEC chief hit the wires in European hours, saying there was a growing consensus among oil pumping countries that they needed to continue to "rebalance" the market.
Oil wasn't the only commodity that suffered. Chinese iron ore futures DCIOcv1 fell almost 7 percent in Shanghai after tumbling 8 percent on Thursday
The Canadian dollar CAD=, the Australian dollar AUD= and Russia's rouble RUB= - some of the world's most commodity- sensitive currencies - were all sent spinning, falling respectively to 14-month, four-month and seven-week lows.
They all fought back, though, after the Saudi OPEC governor's comments that: "A six-month extension (to production cuts) may be needed to rebalance the market, but the length of the extension is not firm yet."
The euro EUR= meanwhile touched six-months highs of almost $1.10 ahead of France's weekend election, in which polls now expect centrist Emmanuel Macron to convincingly beat right-wing and anti-euro rival Marine Le Pen.
The gap between French and German 10-year government borrowing costs also hit a six-month low and despite the dip on the day, European shares were heading for a healthy 1.2 percent rise for the week.
The dollar .DXY and U.S. government bond yields US10YT=RR had both been nudged lower by the commodity market worries. It is set to be the fourth weekly fall on the trot for the greenback which is now at its lowest since November.
The yen JPY= and gold XAU= rose in tandem as investors took refuge in safe havens, though the latter remained on track for its biggest weekly decline in nearly six months on bets that U.S. interest rates will rise again in the coming months.
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