Asian Stocks Rise On Crude Oil High, European Shares Follow

Asian stocks rose broadly Friday as crude oil prices touched a 2016 high and the dollar softened after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s cautious stance on further interest rate increases in 2016. The surge in Asian markets followed a rally on Wall Street Thursday as the S&P 500 index closed at its highest since Dec. 31.

In Asia, China’s Shanghai Composite rose 1.73 percent while the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 3.65 percent. China’s Nasdaq-style ChiNext Index closed 4.34 percent higher.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.82 percent. India’s S&P BSE Sensex closed 1.21 percent higher while South Korea’s Kospi Index climbed 0.21 percent.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index bucked the broader trend, closing 1.25 percent lower Friday.

"We have got an important week out of the way from a macro data perspective, and not only have we come out of it unscathed, we are seemingly in a stronger place than where we started the week," Ben Le Brun, market analyst at online brokerage OptionsXpress in Sydney told Reuters.

The general good cheer spread over to the European bourses which opened Friday broadly lower but climbed higher during morning trade. Germany lead the region with the DAX up 0.32 percent while London's FTSE 100 was 0.32 percent higher and France's CAC 40 was up 0.05 percent. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.11 percent.

In the U.S., stock futures on the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Index were up 0.17 percent while stock futures on the Nasdaq were up 0.11 percent Friday morning.

U.S. crude oil futures were up 3 cents at $40.23 a barrel during morning trade while Brent crude futures — the global benchmark — were up 2 cents at $41.56 a barrel Friday.