Asian shares held near 6-1/2-month highs on Friday after upbeat U.S. data and optimism in the tech sector helped calm some of the jitters sparked by the Federal Reserve’s cautious outlook on the world’s biggest economy.
Asian Shares
- MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was nearly flat.
- Japan’s Nikkei average added 0.1 percent.
- China’s Shanghai Composite, the blue-chip CSI 300 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped between 0.1 and 0.4 percent each.
- The S&P 500 gained 1.09 percent
- The Nasdaq Composite rallied 1.42 percent.
Currencies
- The euro traded at $1.1380.
- The dollar stood at 110.80 yen, having hit a five-week low of 110.30 on Thursday.
- The five-year yield dropped to 2.327 percent.
- The pound firmed 0.3 percent to trade at $1.3142, having dropped to $1.3004 on Thursday. Against the euro, it hit one-month lows of 0.8722 on Thursday and last stood at 0.8654.
Commodities
- Brent crude futures inched up 0.1 percent to $67.95 per barrel.
- U.S. crude futures stood flat at$59.98.
