By John Geddie
LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar bounced back, Asian and European shares slipped and government bond yields soared to multi-week highs on Thursday after U.S. central bank chief Janet Yellen signaled a path of steady interest rate increases for the world's largest economy.
The European Central Bank was set to meet as the euro recovered some of the ground it lost overnight
Further hints of disagreements among the region's monetary guardians -- revealed in minutes of the ECB's December meeting -- could ruffle markets, however.
European (STOXX) and Asian stocks (MIAPJ0000PUS) broadly dipped, with resources and oil companies hit as a rising dollar increased the cost of dollar-denominated commodities for holders of foreign currencies.
But there were some big individual gains as Zodiac Aerospace (PA:ZODC) surged following a takeover offer, and Moneysupermarket.com (L:MONY) jumped after it reported strong results.
Wall Street was set to open a touch lower with the S&P 500 (SPX) set to give up some of Wednesday's rise, which was led by stronger financial stocks.
The U.S. currency recovered from Tuesday's decline, when it reached its weakest level since early December after President-elect Donald Trump expressed concern in a weekend interview about the effects of a stronger greenback.
Yellen will speak again later on Thursday, after European markets close, about the economic outlook and monetary policy.
"Of all the speakers we're getting, either from Davos or from less ostentatious spots, the one I'm going to listen to most for now will probably still be Janet Yellen," Societe Generale's currency strategist Kit Juckes said.
"As the U.S. economy approaches full employment, as wages rise but inflation rises nearly as quickly, how hawkish the Fed dares to be will determine how much the dollar rises."
The dollar gained almost one percent from Wednesday's lows against a basket of currencies (DXY) after Yellen's comments that she and other policymakers expected to raise rates a few times a year until 2019.
The affects appeared to be wearing off on Thursday, though, as investors, desperate for further details on Trump's plans to boost growth, remained cautious before the President-elect's inauguration on Friday.
Euro zone government bonds were still moving in the slipstream of Yellen's speech with benchmark German bond yields
OIL REBOUND
Earlier in Asia, short-term funding costs in China shot to their highest in nearly 10 years on fears that liquidity was tightening heading into the Lunar New Year holidays at the end of this month.
"The market is typically short of liquidity ahead of the Lunar New Year," said Gu Weiyong, chief investment officer at bond-focused hedge fund Ucom Investment Co, adding that a cash injection by the central bank was insufficient.
Bucking the trend of weaker Asian shares, Japan's Nikkei stock index (N225) ended up 0.9 percent, helped by weaker yen
The pound rebounded above $1.23
U.S. crude (CLc1) added 0.8 percent to $51.50 per barrel, after shedding 2.67 percent on Wednesday. Brent crude (LCOc1) rose 0.9 percent to $54.39 after slipping 2.79 percent.
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