Hong Kong - Asian markets mostly advanced Friday following a healthy rally on Wall Street, while Tokyo was supported by a weaker yen and Hong Kong enjoyed strong buying in the afternoon.
The euro remained a target for buying after this week's upbeat eurozone growth data and despite Greece's struggles to hammer out a debt reform deal with creditors.
Tokyo's Nikkei index climbed 0.83 percent, or 162.68 points to finish at 19,732.92 and Sydney put on 0.68 percent, or 38.9 points, to 5,735.5. Hong Kong surged 2.20 percent in the afternoon.
However, Seoul fell 0.65 percent, or 13.83 points, to close at 2,106.50 while Shanghai shed 0.71 percent in late trade.
The three main indexes in New York each tacked on more than one percent Thursday as expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates have fizzled in the wake of a string of soft economic indicators.
Figures showing the US producer price index fell 0.4 percent last month more than wiped out March's first increase since October and fell well short of forecasts for a 0.2 percent rise. That came a day after news that retails sales saw their weakest year-on-year growth since 2009.
The results follow other poor recent indicators -- including anaemic wage growth, a tepid manufacturing sector and weak economic growth -- which analysts mostly say will likely keep the Fed from raising rates soon.
In US trade the S&P 500 rose 1.08 percent to end at a record high, while the Dow rallied 1.06 percent and the Nasdaq jumped 1.39 percent.
Despite lending rates tipped to remain at record lows for the time being the dollar ticked higher Friday.
The greenback bought 119.48 yen against 119.19 yen in New York.
AFP
