Asian stocks were
slightly higher on Friday after a sluggish start, while the dollar held
most of the gains it made overnight on strong U.S. economic data as
some risk appetite returned despite caution over political turbulence in
the United States.
European
shares, which posted losses overnight, are on track for positive
starts. Financial spreadbetter London Capital Group expects Britain's
FTSE 100 to rise 0.4 percent, Germany's DAX to climb 0.1 and France's
CAC 40 to gain 0.3 percent on the open.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan reversed earlier losses to gain 0.1 percent, shrinking its weekly loss to 0.5 percent.
Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.1 percent, but remains headed for a 1.8 percent loss for the week.
Australian shares slipped 0.25 percent, widening weekly losses to almost 2 percent.
Chinese shares were little changed, up 0.4 percent for the week. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 0.3 percent, set for a weekly rise of 0.1 percent.
Malaysian shares advanced 0.2 percent and the ringgit was almost 0.1 percent higher at 4.323 per dollar, after first-quarter gross domestic product grew at 5.6 percent from a year ago, the fastest pace in two years.
U.S. President Donald Trump's dismissal of Comey last week set off a political firestorm that led to Wall Street's biggest sell-off in over eight months on Wednesday after media reported that Comey had written a memo stating that Trump had asked him to drop a probe into his former national security advisor's Russian connections.
The Justice Department's appointment on Wednesday of a special counsel to probe possible ties between Russia and Trump's presidential campaign helped calm markets and lifted Wall Street on Thursday.
The Dow gained 0.3 percent, the S&P was up 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 0.7 percent overnight. MSCI's emerging markets index rose 0.1 percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan reversed earlier losses to gain 0.1 percent, shrinking its weekly loss to 0.5 percent.
Japan's Nikkei rallied 0.1 percent, but remains headed for a 1.8 percent loss for the week.
Australian shares slipped 0.25 percent, widening weekly losses to almost 2 percent.
Chinese shares were little changed, up 0.4 percent for the week. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 0.3 percent, set for a weekly rise of 0.1 percent.
Malaysian shares advanced 0.2 percent and the ringgit was almost 0.1 percent higher at 4.323 per dollar, after first-quarter gross domestic product grew at 5.6 percent from a year ago, the fastest pace in two years.
U.S. President Donald Trump's dismissal of Comey last week set off a political firestorm that led to Wall Street's biggest sell-off in over eight months on Wednesday after media reported that Comey had written a memo stating that Trump had asked him to drop a probe into his former national security advisor's Russian connections.
The Justice Department's appointment on Wednesday of a special counsel to probe possible ties between Russia and Trump's presidential campaign helped calm markets and lifted Wall Street on Thursday.
The Dow gained 0.3 percent, the S&P was up 0.4 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 0.7 percent overnight. MSCI's emerging markets index rose 0.1 percent.
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