Firm dollar hits oil, gold, shares; Nikkei scales new peak

TOKYO: Oil and gold prices fell on Monday as the dollar strengthened, weighing on Asian shares, but Japanese equities outperformed on the back of the yen's slide to a fresh 4-1/2-year low against the U.S. currency.

European stock markets are seen narrowly mixed after the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> closed at a five-year high on Friday, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100 <.FTSE>, Paris's CAC-40 <.FCHI> and Frankfurt's DAX <.GDAXI> would open between a 0.2 percent rise and a 0.1 percent drop. <.L><.EU>