Asian stocks rise as dealers look to Wall Street

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Traders in Tokyo lifted the Nikkei index as some of the country's big manufacturers restarted production after the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Tokyo closed 1.07 per cent higher, adding 101.12 points to 9,536.13 while Hong Kong gained 0.93 per cent and Shanghai added 1.14 per cent.

Sydney ended 0.91 per cent, or 43 points, higher at 4,742.6 and Seoul closed 0.85 per cent, or 17.26 points up at 2,054.04.

Regional shares have also been supported by bargain hunting after a sell-off last week caused by the Japanese crisis.

Dealers are growing more confident that the battle to avoid a meltdown at the Fukushima No.1 plant in Japan is being won with crews having linked up an external electricity supply to all six reactors and preparing to restart cooling systems.

The emergency crews' progress at the atomic plant allowed investors to turn their focus to the United States, where a strong batch of jobs data helped the Dow post a 0.70 per cent gain.

The Labor Department said new jobless claims fell to 382,000 in the week ending March 19, down from 387,000 the week before, sustaining a downward trend that began in August and raising hopes for the US recovery.

The good figures added to news in Japan that firms had started to resume output.

Toyota was 1.1 per cent up in the afternoon after it said Thursday it will begin production of three hybrid models in Japan on Monday, while Nissan added 2.1 per cent after it began making some parts earlier this week and restarted assembly of some vehicles on Thursday.

However trade remained cautious in Japan as the country reels from the quake-tsunami disaster as well as the resulting nuclear crisis, which has also led to a food and water contamination scare.

The euro was buoyed by expectations the European Union will step in to bail out Portugal after the country's parliament on Wednesday refused an austerity package aimed at digging the embattled economy out of the mire.

The single currency edged down to $1.4179 in afternoon Asian trade from $1.4176 in New York late Thursday, although it was well up from the $1.4087 it hit after the Portuguese decision.

The single currency changed hands at 114.75 yen from 114.12.

The greenback was slightly lower against the yen, trading at 80.99 as compared with 81.01 on Thursday.

Analysts at Action Forex said the market was confident that the EU would support Lisbon after it did the same for Greece and Ireland last year.

"The euro is stronger because the Europeans will do as they have twice before, they will bail out Lisbon," it said in a report.

"The European leaders will not permit a default, staggering nations will be propped up and Germany will pay," the report added.

"If the path to this conclusion was messy, the results sometimes tardy and not always to the liking of commentators, the Europeans have proved capable and willing to defend their currency and the union that stands behind it."

Oil was up in afternoon Asian trade on Friday, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, rising six cents to $105.66 per barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for May delivery gained three cents to $115.75.

Gold opened at $1,432.50-$1,433.50 an ounce in Hong Kong, down from Wednesday's close of $1,437.50-$1,438.50.

In other markets:

-- Taipei rose 0.40 per cent, or 33.99 points, to end at 8,610.39.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company gained 2.6 per cent to Tw$71.20, HTC rose 1.0 per cent to Tw$1,060.00 and Hon Hai added 1.4 per cent to Tw$106.00.

-- Manila closed 0.89 per cent, or 34.27 points, up at 3,875.81.

Top-traded SM Investments rose 0.78 per cent to 519.50 pesos and Energy Development gained 0.50 per cent to 6.05 pesos, while Cebu Air led losers, dropping 2.61 per cent to 83.90 pesos.

-- Wellington ended flat, edging up 1.36 points to 3,388.61.

Fletcher Building rose 0.9 per cent to NZ$9.03, Telecom fell 1.5 per cent to NZ$1.96 and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was down 0.6 per cent at NZ$3.12.