There was a rally in Friday's initial trading on the Tokyo Stock Exchange with the Nikkei 225 index in the lead, an increase of almost 3 percent. The broader Topix index was noted up 2.5 percent.
It was heading towards the best stock market week in over a year.
Inspiration was drawn from a good Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange with indices rising by one and a half to two percent, as well as new economic data. The figures, showing decreasing unemployment and increased sales in the US trade, suggest that the risk of slowdown that the market has been worried about may not translate into reality.
Even in Hong Kong and South Korea, the mood was upbeat, with the Hang Seng index up 1.8 percent and the Korean Kospi index up 1.7 percent.
In China, trading was more subdued, with the composite indices in Shanghai and Shenzhen both up 0.2 percent.
