Asian markets fluctuated Monday as the battle between economic optimism and fears about the inflation and possible rate hikes the recovery will fuel continues to play out on trading floors.

International law firms hired by SGBL Bank chairman and CEO Antoun Sehnaoui have started preparing a series of lawsuits to be filed against Mount Lebanon Attorney General Judge Ghada Aoun in France, Switzerland, Belgium and the U.S., media reports said.

The lawsuits will accuse Aoun of “attempting to harm the reputation of Sehnaoui and the SGBL bank, especially that Sehnaoui owns a bank in the United States and another in France,” LBCI television said.

Turkey fired the governor of its central bank and replaced him with economist and former ruling party lawmaker Sahap Kavcioglu, according to a presidential decree published late on Friday, in a move likely to raise concerns over the bank's independence.  

The United States on Friday condemned the drone strike on a Saudi oil refinery claimed by Yemen's Huthi rebels, calling it an attempt to "disrupt global energy supplies."

Canadian inflation rose 1.1 percent in February from a year earlier as gasoline prices increased for a third straight month, the government said Wednesday.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday confirmed Katherine Tai as President Joe Biden's top trade enforcer and negotiator.

Lebanon will on Monday begin the fourth phase of its reopening plan following a strict coronavirus lockdown aimed at curbing soaring cases.

The Syndicate of Money Changers in Lebanon on Friday welcomed measures announced by the Presidency and the central bank to rein in the dramatic fluctuations in the dollar exchange rate on the black market.

In a statement, the Syndicate said the move to return the currency exchange operations to “legitimate money changers” and to act against “the ghosts of the black market” will contribute to “stabilizing the dollar exchange rate after the confusion that affected all commercial sectors and aggrieved citizens.”

The Central Bank of Lebanon announced on Friday that it will allow local banks to conduct currency transactions similar to money exchange shops and will step in to control the uncontrollable exchange rate of the dollar, the presidency announced.

Asian and European stocks fell on Friday as the euphoria from the US Federal Reserve's upbeat economic outlook was eclipsed by fears the recovery will fan inflation and interest rate hikes sooner than anticipated.