Sterling rose in European trade against dollar for second straight session on prospects of a rate hike in the UK following strong inflation data.

GBP/USD rose 0.2% to 1.3637, with an intraday low at 1.3604, after closing up 0.15% yesterday, the first profit in four days following strong consumer prices data in the UK.

The dollar index fell 0.1% on Thursday, the second straight session against a basket of major rivals. 

US 10-year treasury yields stopped spiking ahead of further data on rate hike prospects in the US in March.

In the UK, consumer prices rose 5.4% in December, the fastest such pace since March 1992, passing estimates of 5.2%, after rising 5.1% in November. 

The data increased inflationary pressures on UK policymakers and bolstered prospects of rates a hike in February.

Copper prices fell on Tuesday, after the markets returned from an official holiday, while the US dollar rose against most major currencies.

The markets are parsing the recent Federal Reserve officials statements, in which they hinted at sooner-than-expected rate hikes, which affects the dollar, and in turn, commodities and stocks.

The Federal Reserve will hold its first monetary policy meeting in 2022 next week, but analysts expect that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged this time, and will start to raise it most likely during the March meeting.

The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by 0.3% to 95.5 points as of 14:35 GMT, after hitting a high of 95.5 points and a low of 95.1 points.

Copper March futures fell 0.2% to $ 4.41 a pound, as of 14:26 GMT .

OPEC reported today keeping its 2022 demand growth forecast unchanged, despite concerns about the coronavirus pandemic and Omicron.

OPEC stated that global demand for oil in 2021 reached 96.6 million barrels per day, which is the same as previous estimates.

The organization kept its projection for 2022 unchanged, with a growth of 4.2 million bpd, and the total global demand to 100.8 million bpd.

Bear in mind that OPEC's oil output rose by 166,000 bpd in December, and reached a total of 27.88 million bpd.

US stock indices fell sharply in early trading on Tuesday, after the Treasury bond yield rallied.

The markets are parsing the recent Federal Reserve officials statements, in which they hinted at sooner-than-expected rate hikes, which affects the dollar, and in turn, commodities and stocks.

The Federal Reserve will hold its first monetary policy meeting in 2022 next week, but analysts expect that the Fed will keep interest rates unchanged this time, and will start to raise it most likely during the March meeting.

US 10-year treasury yields rose to 1.8%, and the 2-year bond yield breached the 1% barrier.

As for stocks, Dow Jones fell 1.5% or 560 points to 35,346 as of 14:58 GMT, and S&P 500 fell 1.5% or 71 points to 4,591, while Nasdaq fell 1.7% or 255 points to 14,640 points.