• The Japanese yen remained near a two-week low against the dollar after the Bank of Japan left monetary policy unchanged as expected even as its U.S. counterpart signaled further tightening.
It was trading 0.3 percent lower at 111.23 yen JPY=D4 per dollar after the BOJ left in place its program to buy Japanese government bonds, and kept its short-term interest
• The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady on Friday and upgraded its assessment of private consumption and overseas growth, signalling its confidence that an export-driven economic recovery was broadening and gaining momentum.
As widely expected, the BOJ maintained its pledge to guide short-term interest rates at minus 0.1 percent and the 10-year government bond yield around zero under its yield curve control (YCC) policy.
• The U.S. Senate voted nearly unanimously on Thursday for legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia and force President Donald Trump to get Congress' approval before easing any existing sanctions on Russia.
• Qatar's isolation by other Arab nations has dealt a strong hand to Japanese utilities in talks reviewing long-term gas contracts with the top LNG exporter, likely accelerating a shift to a more openly traded global market for the fuel.
If Japan gets its way in the periodic contract review, the world's biggest buyer of LNG would have to import more short-notice supplies from producers such as the United States, another step away from rigid deals that run for decades towards a more active spot market.
• The Pentagon said on Thursday it has not yet reached a decision on future troop levels in Afghanistan, amid speculation that Defense Secretary Jim Mattis may have finalised plans for an increase in forces to help break a stalemate with the Taliban.
• British Prime Minister Theresa May urged the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar on Thursday to take steps to reduce tensions that have led the Arab world's biggest powers to cut ties with Qatar.
• The United States has accused a Chinese-based company of acting as a front for laundering money on behalf of a sanctioned North Korean bank and has filed a complaint seeking $1.9 million from it, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.
Mingzheng International Trading Limited has facilitated prohibited dollar transactions through the United States on behalf of the Foreign Trade Bank, a North Korean bank, and laundered the proceeds, the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Columbia said in a statement.
• Europeans think much better of the EU now than they did a year ago when Britons dealt the Union a heavy blow by voting to leave, a survey showed on Thursday.
Support surged by 18 percentage points in both Germany and France, which just elected europhile centrist Emmanuel Macron as president, the Washington-based Pew Research Center found.
Even the British hold a much more favourable opinion of the European Union. Now 54 percent of them view the EU positively, 10 points up on a year ago, while 40 percent were unfavourable. In June last year, they voted by 52 percent to 48 percent for Brexit. Negotiations on withdrawal terms start on Monday.
• Russia's Defence Ministry said on Friday it was checking information that a Russian air strike near the Syrian city of Raqqa may have killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in late May.
The air strike was launched after the Russian forces in Syria received intelligence that a meeting of Islamic State leaders was being planned, the ministry said in a statement posted on its Facebook page.
• Oil prices edged up on Friday but remained near six-month lows, held down by an ongoing supply overhang that persists despite an OPEC-led effort to cut production and prop up crude markets.
Brent crude futures were at $47.12 per barrel at 0656 GMT, 20 cents, or 0.4 percent, above their last settlement.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $44.56 per barrel, up 10 cents, or 0.2 percent.
Reference: Reuters
Thai
Eng