TOKYO (Reuters) – The euro dipped on Friday after Catalan separatists wanting to break away from Spain won a regional election, while Asian stocks edged up on new data pointing to steady growth in the U.S. economy.
Spreadbetters expected Britain’s FTSE .FTSE to open down 0.2 percent, Germany’s DAX .GDAXI to start 0.15 percent lower and France’s CAC .FCHI to open 0.2 percent lower.
The euro momentarily dipped to $1.1817 EUR= early in the day as preliminary results from regional votes on Thursday showed pro-independence parties in Catalonia keeping an absolute majority. It trimmed losses to last stand at $1.1849, down 0.2 percent.
“Some speculators appeared to have sold the euro in thin trading,” said Yukio Ishizuki, senior currency strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo.
“The overall impact of the Catalan vote on the euro and the wider global markets is likely to be limited, however. Catalonia cannot become a sovereign state if no other country recognises its independence. It won’t even be able to have its own currency under such conditions.”
With nearly all votes counted, separatist parties won a slim majority in Catalan parliament, a result that promises to prolong political tensions in Spain.
Australian stocks advanced 0.15 percent, South Korea’s KOSPI .KS11 gained 0.45 percent and Japan’s Nikkei .N225 rose 0.15 percent.
The dollar was steady at 113.370 yen JPY=, with its index against a basket of six major currencies 0.1 percent higher at 93.392 .DXY.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield US10YT=RR was at 2.482 percent, having pulled back slightly from a nine-month peak above 2.500 percent scaled the previous day.
Treasury yields rose earlier this week after Congress approved a U.S. tax code overhaul that was expected to lift economic growth but add at least $1 trillion to the national debt in 10 years.
In commodities, U.S. crude futures CLc1 slipped 0.3 percent to $58.20 per barrel, an earlier rise losing steam as traders sold to adjust positions ahead of the year-end. [O/R]The contracts had reached a nine-day peak of $58.38 overnight as OPEC started working on plans for an exit strategy from its deal to cut crude supplies, fuelling hopes it would not end supply cuts abruptly. [O/R]
Brent LCOc1 was down 0.15 percent at $64.81 a barrel after closing Thursday at $64.90 a barrel, its highest since June 2015.
The broader rise in commodities this week — copper on the London Metal Exchange CMCU3 reached a two-month high on Thursday — lifted the Australian dollar to $0.7718 AUD=D4, its highest since Nov. 2.
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