The Albany Gazette - Asian stocks rise on renewed confidence, strong earnings

The Nikkei was the region's biggest winner, closing 1.4 percent higher following a decision by the Bank of Japan to maintain its easy money policy.

Tokyo also got a boost from electronics giant Sony, which ended more than two percent up after announcing a record $85 billion in sales for the full year ending in March.

It attributed the bumper year to a weaker yen, strong gaming hardware sales and "higher revenues for anime streaming services", including from the acquisition of streaming platform Crunchyroll.

The conclusion of the two-day BoJ meeting, meanwhile, offered little in the way of surprises, with the central bank announcing a one-year-plus review of its longstanding monetary easing measures, but opting to keep them in place for the time being.

The decision for the review "is partly aimed at telling the financial market that policy changes will not be conducted immediately", Nomura Research Institute economist Takehide Kiuchi wrote in a commentary.

"Belief that policy changes will come later prompted yields to fall, the yen to ease and stocks to rise," IwaiCosmo Securities said in a note.

Shanghai was up more than one percent at the close, buoyed by strong tech shares, while Hong Kong also rose on the back of solid gains by tech companies Tencent and NetEase.

Seoul, Sydney, Taipei, Wellington, Mumbai, Bangkok and Manila were all up, while Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur were down.

Frankfurt was up in early trade, while London and Paris edged down after opening in the green.

- Inflation 'beast' -

On Wall Street, a 14 percent surge in Meta shares -- along with strong performances by other tech giants -- boosted sentiment, as did receding fears of further turmoil in the banking sector, which had acted as a drag on global markets.

Art Hogan, an analyst at B. Riley Financial, said "the worst of the regional bank turmoil is likely in the rear mirror", noting that most US lenders released earnings that were reassuring.

Meanwhile, fresh US macroeconomic data was a mixed bag: though growth slowed more than expected in the first quarter, resilient employment and a bounceback in personal consumption offered a silver lining, pumping the brakes on recession fears.

"The consumer is still in too good of shape for the recession to start in the second quarter," Oanda's Edward Moya said in a note. "GDP growth is about to flatline, but it might squeeze out a tiny gain this quarter."

Focus now turns to the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting next week, with the market expecting the Fed to consider strong consumer spending and a drop in weekly jobless claims as evidence that the economy can take more inflation-fighting interest rate hikes.

The International Monetary Fund's European department director Alfred Kammer urged the continent's central banks on Friday to "kill the beast" of inflation by pursuing interest rate hikes of their own.

The European Central Bank has followed the Fed in hiking interest rates since last year, and will meet to discuss rates next week.

- Key figures around 0730 GMT -

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.5 percent at 19,940.51

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.1 percent at 3,323.27 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.4 percent at 28,856.44 (close)

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 7,824.55

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1007 from $1.1033 on Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2482 from $1.2498

Dollar/yen: UP at 135.73 yen from 134.02 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 88.17 pence from 88.24 pence

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.3 percent at $78.59 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.3 percent at $74.98 per barrel

New York - Dow: UP 1.6 percent at 33,826.16 (close)

(T.Renner--BBZ)