Asian stocks extend rally on Fed cues
Asian equities put up an upbeat performance, with the exception of Shanghai, on the final trading day of the week, following an inspiring U.S. lead overnight as investors cheered the Federal Reserve's pledge to be patient in increasing interest rates.
Wall Street rallied on Thursday, with the blue-chip Dow climbing more than 400 points for the first time in three years. Positive data showing jobless claims fell by 6,000 to 289,000 last week - the lowest since early November - also encouraged sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 2.4 percent, while the S&P 500 surged 2.4 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq added 2.2 percent.
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Meanwhile, Brent crude held below $60 a barrel near a 5-1/2-year low on Friday as a global oversupply of oil showed little sign of receding. U.S. crude for January delivery, which expires after Friday's settlement, was up 31 cents at $54.42, after rising to as high as $55.50 in earlier trading.
Nikkei jumps 2.4%
Japanese shares attained a one-and-a-half-week high on Friday, after the Nikkei 225 enjoyed its best day in six-and-a-half weeks in the previous session, as dollar-yen breached the 119 handle midday. The yen traded at a one-and-a-half-week low of 119.4 at 1440 SIN/HK.
The Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy steady at its final meeting of the year , as had been expected. But the central bank raised its economic assessment, citing signs of a pickup in exports.
Exporter stocks got a fillip from a weaker currency; Toyota Motor (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 7203.T-JP) surges 3.6 percent and Nissan (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 7201.T-JP) rises 2.1 percent. However, Sony underperformed the bourse, losing nearly 3 percent, on reports that North Korea was behind a cyber attack which has resulted in Sony Pictures pulling all plans to release its comedy "The Interview."
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Mainland bourses mixed
China's benchmark Shanghai Composite index reversed opening gains to slump 1 percent late Friday.
"A concern for China at the moment is the spike in 7-day repo rates, which have topped 6% in today's trade. The People's Bank of China (PBoC) was reportedly offering short-term loans to banks yesterday to ease pressure on short-term borrowing," wrote IG market strategist Stan Shamu in a note.
Automakers and property developers were lower; Vanke and Poly Real Estate traded more than 3 percent lower while Dongfeng Auto plunged 4.2 percent.
Meanwhile, China revised up the estimated size of its economy for 2013 by 3.4 percent to 58.8 trillion yuan (Exchange:CNY=), the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday, but said the revision will not affect economic growth this year.
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In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index climbed 1.2 percent, after hitting a one-week high of 23,185 points earlier in the session.
Carmaker BYD rebounded 18 percent in Hong Kong and 2.7 percent in Shenzhen, after posting its biggest single-day drop of more than 45 percent in the previous session amid various market rumors such as U.S. investor Warren Buffett is considering to reduce his stake.
Meanwhile, BAIC Motor, partly-owned by Germany's Daimler (XETRA:DAI-DE), traded at HK$8.78 in its trading debut. The Chinese automaker raised $1.4 billion dollars in the public offer.
Gaming stocks remained in focus ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the city this weekend. Melco Crown led gains in the sector by rising 3.1 percent.
"There's a need to clean up Macau, make it more mass market... and that is a painful transition," Jon Oh, Research Analyst for Gaming and Lodging at CLSA, told CNBC Asia's " Squawk Box ." "As such, gaming plays are likely to underperform in the next 1-2 quarters."
ASX rallies 2.5%
Australia's benchmark S&P ASX 200 chalked up a three-day winning streak on Friday, clinching a one-and-a-half-week high along the way, as the commodity sector dismissed pressure from falling metals and oil prices.
Oil and gas producers opened up, with Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL-AU) and Origin Energy (ASX:ORG-AU) closing up 3 percent each. Santos, which was in focus after announcing that it had secured a 3-year $816.60 million bank loan from ANZ Banking , notched up 0.4 percent.
Iron ore miners were broadly higher; BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals climbed 3.4 and 2 percent, respectively, while BC Iron (ASX:BCI-AU) reversed opening gains to finish 4 percent lower after announcing changes to its Iron Valley deal with Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN-AU).
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar continued to trade below 82 U.S. cents, near multi-year lows.
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Kospi up 1.7%
The Fed-fueled rally on Wall Street also delivered gains to South Korea's Kospi (Korea Stock Exchange: .KS11) index, which traded near 1,929 points - its highest level since November 12.
Blue-chips rocketed for the last session of the week; Samsung Electronics charged 5 percent on hopes of higher dividend payouts and recovering profits, while Hyundai Motor rose 1.8 percent.
The country's largest utility Kepco was up 5.1 percent despite news that the South Korean government is considering to cut electricity rates following the fall in energy prices.
Nifty gains 1%
Indian shares tracked Asia-wide gains to trade near a one week high of 8,258 points on Friday.
