Asian Stocks And Euro Firm Up
Asian stocks and the euro steadied Friday, but were on course for a losing week as worries about weak corporate earnings and slowing global economic growth limit the appeal of riskier assets.
Mining stocks, sold off earlier in the week, led gains after a bounce in copper and iron ore prices on Thursday.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 percent, with the materials sub-index gaining 0.4 percent. Japan's Nikkei was flat after closing at its lowest in two months on Thursday.
The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index is down just over 1 percent on the week, while the Nikkei has shed more than 3.5 percent.
The euro steadied around $1.2935 after three days of declines that have left it down around three-quarters of a percent on the week. The dollar was broadly flat, having been pushed up around 0.5 percent on the week by investors seeking safety in the U.S. currency.
Commodities - with the exception of oil - were also mostly on course for a losing week, with Thursday's brief rebound quickly losing steam.
Copper was down around 0.2 percent on Friday and gold was flat.
Middle East tensions continued to support oil, with Brent crude firming a few cents to above $115.75 a barrel, while U.S. crude gained 0.4 percent to $92.44.
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