Asian shares and the euro steadied Friday as markets consolidated after recent sharp moves triggered by central banks' stimulus steps.

With weak data gave no clear signs of the world economy's direction, Reuters reported.

World stocks fell Thursday as manufacturing reports from the euro zone, China and the United States showed factory activity remained lackluster, evidence of sluggish growth globally.

In the past week the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan have launched further monetary easing packages, and the European Central Bank has outlined a scheme to help cap the borrowing costs of highly indebted euro zone members which request assistance.

"The market retains an attitude of buying risk on the dip. Central bank easing forces investors to take more risk," said Olivier Korber, derivatives strategist at Societe Generale in Paris, in a research note. "The period between euphoria and economic rebound is typically one with range bound periods, where the market hunts for weak hands."

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.3 percent after slipping to its lowest in nearly a week on Thursday. Australian shares were little changed and the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 0.7 percent. Tokyo's Nikkei stock average opened up 0.3 percent.

The dollar index measured against a basket of key currencies slipped from a one-week high of 79.66 reached on Thursday.

The euro steadied around $1.2976, rebounding from a one-week low of $1.29195 touched on Thursday.

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