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By Bloomberg

The euro gained as talks on Greece’s debt resume, while Japanese shares climbed to a seven-year high and the yen strengthened as the country exited a recession. New Zealand’s dollar advanced after retail sales rose, while China’s yuan weakened the most this month.

The euro strengthened 0.2 percent by 7:17 a.m. in London as futures on the Euro Stoxx 50 Index were little changed. Japan’s Topix index advanced 0.7 percent, while the yen strengthened 0.1 percent and the yield on 10-year Japanese bonds climbed 3 1/2 basis points. Standard & Poor’s 500 Index futures retreated 0.2 percent. The kiwi added 0.5 percent after retail-sales growth accelerated and the yuan slid 0.4 percent in offshore trade. Brent crude traded above $60 a barrel.

Greece and its creditors continue talks today, while fighting over a contested transport hub threatens to derail the new cease-fire agreement in Ukraine. While Japan’s expansion last quarter trailed economist estimates, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank said the figures showed Asia’s second-largest economy is on the path to recovery. U.S. markets are closed for a holiday today, with the Federal Reserve set to release minutes of its January meeting on Wednesday.

“The market is getting comfortable with some kind of solution” for Greece’s debt impasse, said Kay Van-Petersen, a strategist at Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore. “I’m constructive on global growth, which isn’t going to be crazy good, but it’ll be good. It’s a risk-on situation because three of the biggest regions -- Europe, Japan and China -- are all easing.”

Euro, Dollar

The euro bought $1.1415. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis leads a delegation back to Brussels Monday, buoyed by a demonstration in support of the government’s policy by 20,000 people in Athens. While Euro-area countries will discuss Greece’s debt levels, “it is out of the question to cancel the debt, we can discuss its maturity,” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, told Europe 1 radio Sunday.

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.1 percent today as the dollar weakened against most peers. The U.K. pound climbed 0.2 percent and the Swiss franc was 0.3 percent stronger. Russia’s ruble gained 0.6 percent.

Norway’s krone increased 0.3 percent as both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude held on to gains from the end of last week. Brent, the benchmark for more than half of global oil, traded at $61.40 a barrel after soaring 7.8 percent on Friday, while WTI was little changed at $52.67 a barrel.

U.S. Stocks

Oil rallied from its lowest level in almost six years as U.S. drillers cut the number of rigs in services to the fewest since August 2011. Brent is still down more than 45 percent from a high reached in June.

The yen traded at 118.64 per dollar. The currency rallied at the end of last week after people familiar with the matter said some BOJ policy makers view further monetary easing as counterproductive for now. More stimulus could trigger losses in the currency that damage confidence, people familiar with the central bank’s discussions said last week.

Japan’s nominal GDP, which isn’t adjusted for price changes, climbed an annualized 4.5 percent from the previous quarter. Real GDP was flat in 2014, the first time since a 2011 contraction that the economy failed to expand after factoring in inflation. An update on industrial production is also due, with the Bank of Japan set to meet from Tuesday.

Yields on 10-year Japanese government bonds climbed a third day, rising to as high as 0.45 percent. Rates on Japan’s benchmark security have more than doubled in the past month to the highest level since Dec. 3. Data indicate Japan’s $1.1 trillion Government Pension Investment Fund is selling local bonds and buying domestic stocks and overseas assets.

GPIF Proxies

Trust banks, which manage retirement money including those of GPIF, sold a net 1.05 trillion yen ($8.8 billion) in Japanese notes in December, the first reduction on record dating back to 2004, the Japan Securities Dealers Association says.

The kiwi climbed to 74.95 U.S. cents, rising for a third day as the retail-sales report and a gauge of services beat estimates.

The yuan slipped 0.12 percent in Shanghai, trading about 1.94 percent below the central bank’s fixing, the most since Feb. 6 and within the 2 percent limit. The People’s Bank of China raised the reference rate by 0.02 percent to 6.1273. The currency was at 6.2656 per dollar in offshore trading.

China Credit

China is increasingly finding itself in a situation similar to the 1998 Asian financial crisis with emerging markets under pressure of capital outflows as the dollar strengthens, Guan Tao, head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange’s international payment department, said at a forum in Beijing on Saturday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 0.1 percent and a gauge of Chinese shares in the city fluctuated after data Friday showed new bank loans in China exceeded estimates in January. The Shanghai Composite Index increased 0.6 percent.

Aggregate financing was 2.05 trillion yuan ($328 billion) in January, the People’s Bank of China said, matching economists’ estimates, while local-currency bank lending doubled from a month earlier. M2 money supply rose 10.8 percent from a year earlier, the slowest pace since at least 1996, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Energy producers were the biggest gainers among 10 industry groups in the S&P 500 Friday, advancing 2 percent as raw- materials companies also climbed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3 percent to its highest close this year, while the MSCI All-Country World Index climbed to its strongest level since Nov. 26.

Ukraine Skirmishes

Russia’s ruble climbed 0.7 percent to 63.0770 per dollar, the strongest level since Jan. 23. The cease-fire in Ukraine came into force at the weekend, with the government in Kiev and pro-Russian militants accusing each other of violations less than a day into the truce.

World leaders urged both sides to adhere to the agreement signed last week in Belarus, with a standoff over the town of Debaltseve -- a key transport hub on the road that connects the rebel-held cities of Donetsk and Luhansk -- emerging as the biggest threat to the deal.

The yield on Thailand’s government bonds due 2025 rose seven basis points to 2.858 percent, set for the biggest increase in almost a month, after the country recorded its slowest economic growth in three years in 2014.

Gross domestic product rose 0.7 percent last year, the National Economic and Social Development Board said in Bangkok on Monday, matching the median estimate of 15 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.