Global FX DATA:

• • • ASIAN MARKET
      
      Asia’s super-wealthy are increasingly opting for second-hand private jets rather than buying new ones, as private buyers look for deep discounts and shorter waiting times, aircraft brokers said.
       
    • GOLD
      
       Gold prices inched lower on Friday and were headed for the first weekly decline in three as expectations of higher U.S. interest rates and easing political tensions on the Korean Peninsula and Syria weighed on demand for the safe-haven metal.
       
  • • OIL
      
      Oil prices held firm on Friday near three-year highs reached earlier this week as ongoing OPEC-led supply cuts gradually draw down excess supplies.
       
    • INDIA
      
       Indian bond yields spiked while the rupee dropped to its lowest in more than a year on Friday after the minutes of the monetary policy panel meeting suggested that they were likely to take a more hawkish tone starting as early as June.
       
    • DOLLAR
      
      The dollar rallied against other major Asian currencies on Friday morning. Japan’s inflation data were in focus on Friday as investors looked for cues for the country’s monetary policy.
       
    • CRYPTO CURRENCY
      
      Cryptocurrencies continued to rebound on Friday, while reports that South Korean-based crypto exchange Bithumn is considering to issue its own digital coins in Singapore garnered some attention.
       
    • CANADA
      
      Canadian, Mexican and U.S. ministers seeking to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have made good progress on the key question of autos, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Thursday as pressure for a deal intensified.

    • AUSTRALIA
      
      An Australian inquiry into financial sector misconduct claimed its first scalp on Friday as the chief executive of the country’s largest wealth manager stepped down over revelations of board-level deception and misappropriation of funds.

    • JAPAN
      
      A two-armed robot in a Japanese factory carefully stacks rice balls in a box, which a worker carries off for shipment to convenience stores. At another food-packaging plant, a robot shakes pepper and powdered cheese over pasta that a person has just arranged in a container.

    • PHILLIPINE
      
      The Philippines decried what it said was interference in its internal affairs by the European Parliament, which urged the Southeast Asian nation in a resolution to end “extrajudicial killings” and halt plans to bring back the death penalty.

    • SOUTH KOREA
      
      General Motors has said its loss-making South Korean operation would file for bankruptcy if its union failed to agree to cut labour costs by Friday, heaping pressure on workers and the South Korean government to approve a rescue plan.

    • US
      
      The U.S. Treasury is considering ways to restrict sensitive Chinese investments in the United States by invoking an emergency powers law and bringing forward some security review reforms for corporate acquisitions.

    • BRAZIL
      
      Top members of the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB) gushed on Thursday over their newest member, potential presidential candidate and former Supreme Court Justice Joaquim Barbosa, whose debut in a national poll stoked hopes for his potential.
       

    • MEXICO
      
      Mexican leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has widened his lead in the race to win the July 1 presidential election, opening up a gap of 22 percentage points.