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Dollar eases vs yen after earlier nearing 160 yen

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Fed's favoured inflation index looms large this week

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US Presidential debate, French elections on horizon

(Updates to 11:15 a.m. ET)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, June 24 (Reuters) - Global stock indexes

mostly rose on Monday with a key U.S. inflation reading due

later this week, while the dollar eased slightly against the yen

from levels that put investors on alert for Japanese

intervention.

The dollar earlier neared the 160-yen barrier.

Japan's top currency official Masato Kanda said authorities will

take appropriate steps if there is excessive foreign exchange

movement, and that the addition of Japan to the U.S. Treasury's

monitoring list would not restrict their actions.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.16%

at 159.54. The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies, fell 0.39% at 105.47, with the

euro up 0.4% at $1.0734.

The U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index

is due on Friday. Annual growth in the core index is expected to

slow in May.

"The biggest worry for the market is any whiff of

stagflation. In other words, a cooling economy with inflation

climbing higher," said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist,

LPL Financial in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Market participants are still expecting about two rate cuts

this year, pricing in an over 60% chance of a 25-basis-point cut

in September, according to LSEG's FedWatch.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 363.50 points,

or 0.93%, to 39,513.83, the S&P 500 gained 15.37 points,

or 0.29%, to 5,480.51 and the Nasdaq Composite lost

41.96 points, or 0.23%, to 17,647.87.

Shares of chip maker Nvidia ( NVDA ) were down, extending

recent losses.

"Every time we've seen significant profit taking, we've seen

dip buyers coming in and just pushing it back up higher," Krosby

said.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose

3.22 points, or 0.40%, to 804.47, and the STOXX 600

index gained 0.77%. Japan's Nikkei closed up 0.5%.

Investors will also be watching for the first U.S.

presidential debate on Thursday and the first round of voting in

the French election at the weekend.

U.S. President Joe Biden heads into the debate with rival

Donald Trump armed with new immigration and border policies that

his backers hope will boost his standing among sceptical voters.

France's far-right National Rally (RN) party and its allies

were seen leading the first round of the country's elections

with 35.5% of the vote, according to a poll published on Sunday.

In Treasuries, the yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes

rose 0.8 basis points to 4.265%, from 4.257% late on

Friday.

U.S. crude gained 0.81% to $81.38 a barrel and Brent

rose to $85.8 per barrel, up 0.66% on the day.

(Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Wayne Cole

in Sydney; editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Mark Heinrich

and Sharon Singleton)