Bank of England mortgage approvals unexpectedly rose to 65,945 in April from 63,979 in March, beating economists' 62,000 forecast and marking the highest level since January last year. The rise, amid geopolitical fallout from the Iran conflict, may reflect borrowers rushing to lock in mortgages ahead of anticipated further rate hikes, though economists note May house-price data show the property market has lost momentum. Two-year fixed mortgage rates are 5.68%, roughly 90bps above late February

Rising Korean government bond yields have lifted borrowing costs in the corporate debt market, prompting firms to shift into short-term funding, data show. The Korea Financial Supervisory Service and Korea Securities Depository report that as of April corporates issued 741.4 tln won (about $488.4bn) in short-term notes and commercial paper, up 47.1% YoY, while corporate bond issuance fell 34.1% YoY. "Commercial paper's short-term funding costs have remained low, which has driven a large increase in CP issuance," said Eunji Kim, credit analyst at Samsung Securities.

Swiss National Bank Chairman Schlegel said the Swiss franc's real overvaluation is markedly lower than its nominal overvaluation.