Overnight market action with latest New York figures.
EQUITIES
NEW YORK - Wall Street held near the unchanged mark on Thursday as investors exercised caution ahead of Friday's U.S. payrolls report.
The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 25.38 points, or 0.14 percent, to 18,329.62, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 1.22 points, or 0.06 percent, to 2,162.57 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 4.01 points, or 0.08 percent, to 5,163.75.
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LONDON - Sterling sank to an eight-day low and Britain's main share index jumped on Thursday, after the Bank of England surprised markets with a 60 billion-pound bond-buying programme and cut interest rates to record lows.
Having earlier hit a three-week low, the FTSE 100 .FTSE reversed course, jumping 1.6 percent on the day.
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TOKYO - Japan's Nikkei share average gained on Thursday as bargain hunting prevailed during a see-sawing session, while refiner Idemitsu Kosan slid as its takeover bid for a Showa Shell (LON:RDSa) hit an obstacle.
The Nikkei .N225 closed up 1.1 percent at 16,254.89 to rise for the first time in three days. The index initially fell to a 3-week low of 15,921.04 in nervous trade before Friday's U.S. jobs data, with the break below the 16,000 threshold generating future-led bargain hunting.
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FOREIGN EXCHANGE
NEW YORK - Sterling dropped on Thursday, on track for its largest one-day fall in a month against the dollar, after the Bank of England cut interest rates and restarted bond purchases in a move to mitigate the impact of Britain's vote to exit the European Union.
Sterling sank 1.5 percent against the dollar in the first half hour after the decision and as BoE Governor Mark Carney started speaking. It was last down 1.4 percent at $1.3128 GBP=D4 .
For a full report, double click on USD/
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TREASURIES
NEW YORK - U.S. Treasury yields fell on Thursday, with some short- and medium-term issues hitting their lowest levels in more than three weeks, after the Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time since 2009 and said it would buy government bonds.
Yields on Treasuries maturing between two, three and five years hit their lowest levels in more than three weeks of 0.647 percent US2YT=RR , 0.745 percent US3YT=RR and 1.017 percent US5YT=RR , respectively. Yields move inversely to prices.
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COMMODITIES
GOLD
NEW YORK - Gold prices turned higher on Thursday after the Bank of England cut interest rates for the first time since 2009, though gains were muted by strength in the dollar after the previous day's upbeat U.S. jobs data.
Spot gold XAU= was up 0.4 percent at $1,362.60 an ounce at 1350 GMT, off an earlier low of $1,348.50, while U.S. gold futures GCv1 for December delivery were up $4.30 an ounce at$1,369.00.
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BASE METALS
LONDON - Zinc's rally paused on Thursday as markets waited to assess strength of demand in China, but shortages created by mine closures are expected to feed further gains.
Benchmark zinc CMZN3 on the London Metal Exchange ended down 0.8 percent at $2,255. The metal used to galvanise steel hit $2,299 a tonne on Tuesday, its highest since May 2015 and a gain of nearly 60 percent since a January low.
For a full report, double click on MET/L
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OIL
NEW YORK - Oil prices rose nearly 3 percent on Thursday, with U.S. crude advancing firmly above the $40-per-barrel mark on short-covering and after a modest stockpile drop at the delivery hub for U.S. crude futures.
Brent crude LCOc1 settled up $1.19, or 2.8 percent, at $44.29 a barrel.
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