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Gold prices have fallen sharply during a busy stretch of scheduled speeches by central bank officials. Traders are watching for signals on the future path of interest rates, with hawkish remarks typically weighing on bullion by pushing up yields and the dollar. Analysts say the drop reflects markets repricing rate expectations as policymakers take the stage.

Prices for second-hand supertankers have risen above the price of newly built vessels, a reversal driven by surging shipping costs. Middle East states are moving to secure their own tanker fleets, allowing state oil companies to reduce their reliance on third-party shipping firms and take direct control of how their oil is moved to market.

South Korea's finance minister and the Bank of Korea governor held a meeting, according to Yonhap News Agency. The regular financial chief-central banker meeting is being watched for signals on coordination between fiscal and monetary policy, particularly around inflation, currency pressures and the direction of interest rates as markets assess the country's economic outlook.

In January 1966, a US Air Force B-52 bomber carrying hydrogen bombs collided mid-air with a KC-135 tanker during refuelling off the coast of Spain, scattering nuclear weapons near Palomares. One bomb fell into the Mediterranean and took 80 days to recover, in one of the most complex search operations of the Cold War. Renewed attention to the accident continues to highlight the risks of nuclear-armed airborne alert missions and the long aftermath of contamination in the area.