Gold charged past $5,000 an ounce for the first time as geopolitical tensions pounded the U.S. dollar, while investors eyed possible official buying of the yen after a ‍series of surges in the Japanese currency.

Global markets were subdued as traders remained on the sidelines following last week’s turbulence, while awaiting key earnings updates ‍and central bank policy decisions later this week.

Wall Street futures were in the red after major U.S. markets closed mixed on Friday.

TSX futures pointed higher as commodity prices climbed after Canada’s main stock market closed at a fresh record high on Friday.

On Wall Street, markets are watching earnings from Nucor Corp. and Steel Dynamics Inc.

“Risk assets tend to make headway early in a new year, but that can experience a reassessment ​once the data and the corporate earnings start to come through. That’s probably the key vulnerability right now,” said Jeremy Batstone-Carr, European strategist at Raymond James.

Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.04 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.05 per cent, Germany’s DAX slid 0.31 per cent and France’s CAC 40 gave back 0.33 per cent.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 1.79 per cent lower, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged up 0.06 per cent.

Oil prices edged higher after climbing ​more than 2 per cent in the previous ‍session, as output disruptions in major U.S. crude-producing regions and tensions between the U.S. and Iran boosted prices.

Brent crude futures rose 0.1 per cent to US$65.95 ‍a ​barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude traded at US$61.10 a barrel, up 0.1 per cent.

“Winter storm Fern struck the U.S. coast, ⁠forcing shut-ins in major crude and natural gas producing regions and adding stress to the power grid,” said Priyanka Sachdeva, senior market analyst at Phillip Nova, adding that oil markets are experiencing a mild upswing as outages tighten physical flows.

In other commodities, spot gold was up 2.2 per cent at US$5,092.13 an ounce after hitting a record US$5,110.50. U.S. gold futures for February delivery ‍gained 2.2 per cent to US$5,090.70.

The Canadian dollar strengthened against its U.S. counterpart.

The day range on the loonie was 72.93 US cents to 73.15 US cents in early trading. The Canadian dollar was up about 0.04 per cent against the greenback over the past month.

The U.S. dollar index, which weighs the greenback against a group of currencies, dropped 0.52 per cent to 97.09.

The euro rose to US$1.1858. The British pound advanced to US$1.3669.

In bonds, the yield on the U.S. 10-year note was last down at 4.202 per cent.

Germany’s business sentiment, which was unchanged in January from the ​previous month, falling short of analysts’ expectations ‍for a modest improvement, a survey showed.

8:30 a.m. ET: Canada’s annual revisions to Labour Force Survey (2023-2025)

8:30 a.m. ET: U.S. durable goods orders for November. The consensus projection on the Street is an increase of 3.0 per cent from the previous month.

With Reuters and The Canadian Press