Asian equities are carrying on the global rally, setting Europe up nicely to do the same. The Fedspeak that has been such a big driver of markets in recent weeks, will go quiet in the days ahead with officials in a blackout period. There's been a slight pullback in expectations for further tightening after last week's data showed euro-area CPI cooling more than analysts predicted. Lagarde said that day that there was still "ground to cover" in the tightening cycle. The lira weakened more than 1% to 21.12 per dollar in thin Asian trading, approaching the record low of 21.80 marked last week.

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Persons: Kevin Buckland, Chris Weston, Christine Lagarde, There's, Lagarde, Ignazio Visco, Brent, Tayyip Erodogan, Mehmet Simsek, Sam Holmes Organizations: Fed, Reuters Graphics Reuters, ECB, Economic, Monetary Affairs, Bank of Italy, PPI, Thomson Locations: Europe, United States, Saudi Arabia, OPEC, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, France