Market focus is on the resumption of gas flows along the biggest pipeline from Russia to Germany. A planned 10-day outage is set to end at 0400 GMT. If flow isn't resumed, or is lacklustre, it will stoke worries about winter supplies.Two sources familiar with the plans of Russia's monopoly gas exporter, Gazprom, told Reuters flows were likely to restart at pre-maintenance levels of 40% of capacity - probably be enough to calm markets for now, but without resolving the matter.
"They need to be raising rates to deal with the way inflation is embedded," said George Boubouras, head of research at K2 Asset Management in Melbourne. The euro wavered overnight and bought $1.0191 early in the Asia session. Traders also await details of an ECB plan to steady bond spreads in Europe by buying extra debt from periphery countries to keep a lid on yields.