7:30AM Asian markets gain as Bank of Japan leaves rates unchanged.
Asian markets closed higher on Friday. The Nikkei 225 Average ended the day up 0.42% to 16,080.46 after paring earlier declines. Nissan Motor dropped about 1% after bouncing back from sharper morning losses. Canon Inc shed 0.34%. Toshiba Corp turned around from a morning drop to finish up 0.5%.

Japan Airlines gained 2.17%. The Nikkei daily reported Friday that the company, along with All Nippon Airways would start offering business class seats on smaller aircraft flying between Japan and China. All Nippon Airways shares advanced 1.93%. Nippon Steel added 1% after revising its profit outlook upward Thursday afternoon. Softbank Corp. rose 0.45%, recovering from an earlier decline of 3%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index finished up 0.29% to 17,145.76. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index of Hong Kong-listed mainland shares shed 0.2%, weighted down by commodity stocks Jiangxi Copper and Sinopec. Container-terminal operator Cosco Pacific dropped 3.42% due to a larger-than-expected decline in first-half profit. Hang Lung Properties added 2.61% after losing more than 2% on Thursday.

The Kospi index in South Korea advanced 0.28%. Hyundai Motor fell 0.85% on concerns over a slowdown in the key U.S. market, but carrier Korean Air gained 2.41%. China Shanghai Composite index moved up 0.4% but Australia S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.2% as commodity stocks including BHP Billiton and Woodside Petroleum declined on weakness in metal and oil prices.


AM 6:30AM European markets advance on banks and telecoms.
European markets were higher by mid-morning on Friday. The U.K. FTSE 100 index gained 0.4% at 5,878, the German DAX 30 index rose 0.2% at 5,785 and the French CAC 40 index added 0.3% at 5,074. Telecoms equipment maker Alcatel and its US rival Lucent Technologies are very close to merging after shareholders at both companies approved the French group’s $10.9bn all-share offer.

Deutsche Telekom advanced 1% after a report from the Financial Times Deutschland that the company is about to make further job cuts, in a bid to save 5 billion euros by 2010. Telecom Italia gained 1.4% in Milan and Vodafone Group added 1.1% in London.

Bank shares advanced in Europe. Capitalia, the Italian bank, advanced 0.9% after raising its 2007 earnings per share target, having said it would beat its 2006 forecast based on annualised data. Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena reported a 28.9% rise in first half net profit. The shares gained 0.7%. German retailer Metro fell 3.1% after J.P. Morgan sold 17.5 million shares on behalf of the controlling Schmidt-Ruthenbeck family to other investors.

Oil extended a week of losses to strike a new five-month low under $67 on Friday after U.S. distillate supplies rose sharply and BP said it might be able to restore its Alaskan oilfield sooner than expected. Oil extended a week of losses to strike a new five-month low under $67 on Friday after U.S. distillate supplies rose sharply and BP said it might be able to restore its Alaskan oilfield sooner than expected. London Brent crude fell 49 cents to $66.04.

Gold opened Friday at a bid price of $617.10 a troy ounce, down from $635.50 on Thursday. The euro declined on Friday against the U.S. dollar on strong economic news from Washington and speculation that U.S. interest rates may rise higher. In morning European trading the euro bought $1.2714, down from $1.2728 late in New York the night before and nearly a cent weaker than the end of the day Wednesday. The British pound dropped to $1.8735 from $1.8748, while the dollar dropped slightly to purchase 116.40 Japanese yen from 116.18 the day before.