Europe Stocks Edge Up After Asia Gains; Oil Slips

European stocks opened higher as Asian peers headed for their biggest weekly gain since February, after easing U.S. inflation removed some pressure from the Fed to step up the pace of monetary tightening. The dollar steadied after dropping the most since March on Thursday.

Basic materials and technology companies led gains in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index after equity benchmarks advanced across most of Asia. Malaysian assets trading offshore began to stabilize after the shock election win for the opposition, while U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in June also aided sentiment. Ten-year Treasury yields held below 3 percent.

Markets are taking solace from indications that global interest rates may not rise as fast as previously feared. Thursday’s lower-than-expected U.S. CPI reading came after U.K. money markets priced out a hike this year, as the Bank of England forecast slower inflation. Comments from European Central Bank Governor Mario Draghi at a conference in Italy will be the focus later.

“With the U.S. market pricing very much in line with the Fed’s projections, one of the few things that could take it by surprise was an uptick in inflation,” Gordon Kerr, a fixed-income trader at Johannesburg-based FirstRand Bank Ltd., said in a client note. “Yesterday’s print helped to calm those fears.”

Easing geopolitical tensions also aided gains in stocks and saw haven assets like gold edge lower, with Trump and Kim set for their landmark meeting in Singapore on June 12. Oil is heading for a second week of gains after the U.S. pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal.