SHARES, oil and bond yields rose Friday after a tumultuous week and as campaigning for Britain’s EU membership referendum this week was suspended after the killing of a pro-“Remain” politician.

    European bourses climbed more than 1 percent at the end of a third straight week of losses and benchmark 10-year German bond yields clawed back up to the zero mark as investors’ risk averseness eased.

    Campaigning for Britain’s June 23 EU referendum, which overshadowed last week’s U.S. and Japanese central bank meetings, was put on hold after British lawmaker, Jo Cox, was murdered Thursday.

    The recently volatile pound rose 0.5 percent to US$1.4277 with analysts noting that Cox’s death could generate sentiment in favor of remaining in the EU.

    “There was this incredible melt down in risk sentiment (yesterday) where everything seemed to be aligning and then this terrible incident in England seemed to be the root of everything reversing,” said Saxo Bank’s head of FX strategy John Hardy on Friday.

    “I think everyone is still in a state of shock as to what this means. Does it tilt the odds on a vote next week? It’s hard to know but it certainly disrupted what the market was doing.”

    Oil, which has been a major driver of the sharp swings in global markets this year, also helped shift the mood as it rose for the first time in seven sessions. That decline has pushed prices down by 10 percent.

    Eurozone banking stocks rebounded almost 4 percent having hit a four-year low — with all-time lows for banks including Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse — on Brexit worries and sub-zero interest rates, which are eating into earnings.

    Gold also advanced, rising 0.4 percent to US$1,283 an ounce after wild swings overnight. It had surged to a near-two-year high of more than US$1,315, only to slump 2.8 percent by the end of the session. It was on track for a third week of gains.

    “Leading into the Brexit vote, we expect gold to remain around current levels between the US$1,270-US$1,300 range. But after then all bets are off as everything depends on the results of the referendum,” ANZ commodity strategist Daniel Hynes said.

    Stocks ended slightly lower on Wall Street, closing out the market’s second losing week in a row.

    The Dow Jones industrial average gave up 57 points, or 0.3 percent, to 17,675. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 6 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,071. The NASDAQ composite dropped 44 points, or 0.9 percent, to 4,800.

    Overnight, Asia’s main stock markets saw modest gains although that was little consolation after a difficult week that saw both weak Chinese data and the Bank of Japan hold off on more stimulus but talk loudly about currency intervention.

    China’s CSI 300 index made 0.5 percent and the Shanghai Composite added 0.4 percent. That helped them cut weekly losses to 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.5 percent, but suffered a more than 4 percent loss on the week.

    Emerging markets worldwide were down 2.3 percent for the week while Japan’s Nikkei ended down more than 6 percent despite a 1.1 percent rise on the day.

    The dollar had clawed back some lost ground against the yen.

    It steadied at 104.23 yen but was still down 2.4 percent last week, having dropped to 103.555, its lowest since August 2014.(SD-Agencies)