Asian shares up on Friday

Asian shares consolidated their weekly gains on Friday as Sino-U.S. talks produced a lot of headlines but no conclusions, while caution ahead of U.S. payrolls and a holiday in China dampened volatility.

Asian Shares

  • MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 percent. The index was still up 1.8 percent for the week and 13 percent for the year so far.
  • Japan’s Nikkei added 0.3 percent.
  • E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 edged up 0.1 percent.
  • The Dow ended Thursday up 0.64 percent.
  • The S&P 500 gained 0.21 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 0.05 percent.

“Share markets have run hard and fast from their December lows and are vulnerable to a short-term pullback,” said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital.

Currency

  • Against a basket of currencies the dollar had bounced back to 97.287, from Wednesday’s low of 96.962.
  • The euro was flat at $1.1223.
  • Sterling was stalled at $1.3077.

Commodities

  • In commodity markets, spot gold dipped to $1,291.61 per ounce.
  • Brent oil had briefly touched $70 a barrel.
  • Brent crude futures were off 23 cents at $69.17.
  • U.S. crude eased 3 cents to $62.07 a barrel.

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