OIL HITS 5-MONTH LOWS, ASIAN STOCKS LOSE SOME MORE

Oil prices hit five-month lows and shares extended losses on Monday on worries about global demand as many economies slid back into coronavirus-induced lockdowns while upcoming US presidential elections led to heightened caution, Swati Pandey reported for Reuters. 

Fresh coronavirus-induced lockdowns have raised concerns over the outlook for fuel consumption, sending Brent crude to a low of $35.74 per barrel, a level not seen since late May. US crude went as low as $33.64. 

Underwhelming outlooks and results from some of Wall Street's largest companies last week, including Apple and Facebook further soured the mood and dragged US stocks lower last week. On Monday, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan held near one-month lows at 569.86, down 0.1%. Japan's Nikkei was up 0.6%. Australian shares were down 0.1% while New Zealand's benchmark index eased 0.6%. “It’s going to be a big week with the US election on Tuesday being the main event,” said AMP economist Shane Oliver. 

In currencies, the risk-sensitive Australian dollar slipped 0.4% to go below 70 U.S. cents for the first time since July. It was last at $0.7007. The Japanese yen strengthened a bit to 104.57 per dollar, while the British pound was last a shade weaker at $1.2927. The euro was down 0.1% at $1.1639. That left the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of peers, up 0.08%.