The dollar was steady in early Asian trading on Monday, holding well above last week’s 6-1/2-month lows and taking the news of Pyongyang’s latest missile test in stride.

The dollar index, which tracks the U.S. currency against a basket of six major rivals, was flat at 97.432 (DXY), some distance from last week’s low of 96.797, its weakest since Nov. 9.

The greenback edged down slightly to 111.23 yen <jpy=> but mostly held its ground despite a cautious backdrop that usually gives Japan’s perceived safe-haven currency a lift.

North Korea fired what appeared to be a short-range ballistic missile on Monday that landed in

Brent oil clocked a fresh one-month high of $54.04 in Asia as traders priced-in a possibility of a bigger and much deeper extension of the output cut deal.

OPEC likely to extend supply cuts this Thursday

OPEC and other major oil producers are on track to extend the supply cuts at a meeting on Thursday. Most producers have backed Russia and Saudi Arabia’s proposal of extending the output cut deal until next March.

Saudi talks about deeper cuts

“We believe that continuation with the same level of cuts, plus eventually adding one or two small producers, if they wish to join, will be more

Analysts at Goldman Sachs offered some insights over the weekend on the recent uncertainty surrounding the US politics and what it implies for fiscal policy.

Key Quotes:

“Recent developments regarding the investigation into the Trump campaign have further weighed on a fiscal policy process that was already bogged down by House passage of the AHCA, which will consume valuable time in the Senate, an uncertain outcome on the FY18 budget resolution, without which tax legislation would become much less likely, and a lack of clear forward movement on tax reform”

“We are lowering our expectations for fiscal policy changes over the next year”

“Rather than the

TOKYO (Reuters) - The dollar inched higher on Monday, but remained close to six-month lows against a basket of currencies as investors assessed the impact of the latest bout of U.S. political turmoil and a resurgent euro.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, steadied 0.2 percent from Friday's late U.S. levels to 97.292 (DXY). But it was hovering not far from the previous session's low of 97.080, which was its deepest trough since Nov. 9.

U.S. President Donald Trump, now on a trip to the Middle East, left behind political drama in Washington that some

The dollar continued to fall and hit a fresh six-month low against other major currencies on Friday, as U.S. political turmoil continued to dominate market sentiment, weighing heavily on the greenback.

EUR/USD gained 0.84% to a fresh six-month peak of 1.1196.

But the dollar remained under broad selling pressure following reports this week that U.S. President Donald Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey to end the agency's investigation into ties between former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn and Russia.

Former FBI Director Robert Mueller was appointed on Wednesday by the Justice Department as a special counsel to take over the probe into Russia's interference