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Hong Kong - Asian shares mostly climbed for a third straight day on Friday following more advances on Wall Street, while bargain-buying helped oil recover slightly from its latest sell-off.
The euro edged up but struggled to make sizeable gains against the dollar, weighed down by expectations the European Central Bank will unleash a vast easing programme at the same time as the US Federal Reserve plots an interest rate hike.
Tokyo gave back most of its early gains but ended marginally higher, adding 0.18%, or 30.63 points, to 17 197.73. Seoul surged 1.05%, or 20.05 points, to 1 924.70 and Sydney rose 1.56%, or 84.15 points, to close at 5 465.6.
Hong Kong added 0.35%, or 84.42 points, to 23 919.95, but Shanghai slipped 0.24%, or 8.05 points, to 3 285.41.
The mainland Chinese market swung wildly through the day, at one point adding 3.38% following news that Chinese inflation edged up in December but fell well short of the government's target for the full year.
Confidence has picked up over the past few days as analysts predict the ECB will launch a huge bond-buying scheme - known as quantitative easing (QE) - to kickstart the eurozone economy.
Expectations were fanned when data on Wednesday showed consumer prices in the currency bloc had fallen for the first time since October 2009, during the depths of the financial crisis.
A pause in the downward spiral of oil prices also provided some relief after a report showed US stockpiles had fallen last week, fuelling hope that demand is picking up.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for February delivery edged up 17 cents to finish at $48.96 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for February rose one cent to $50.97.
US data in focus
Eyes are now on a closely followed US jobs report due later in the day, with forecasts for another sharp rise in new posts, giving the Fed more ammunition to lift interest rates.
The release on Wednesday of minutes from the bank's December meeting boosted spirits after it showed policymakers are unlikely to announce a hike until at least April.
In New York the Dow surged 1.84%, the S&P 500 jumped 1.79% and the Nasdaq gained 1.84%. And markets in Frankfurt, Paris and Milan closed up more than 3%.
"When it comes to US economic reports there's nothing more important to the Fed than labour market numbers," said Kathy Lien of BK Asset Management.
"The December employment report is scheduled for release on Friday and the big question is whether the strength in November carried into December."
On currency markets the euro, which slipped below $1.18 on Thursday for the first time since 2009, bought $1.1806 on Friday, compared with $1.1795 in New York Thursday afternoon. It also fetched 140.94 yen against 141.15 yen.
The dollar was at 119.39 yen Friday, compared with 119.65 yen in US trade.
In China the government said inflation came in at 1.5% in December, in line with forecasts and up from the five-year low of 1.4% the previous month.
However, for the full year 2014, consumer inflation was 2.0%, down from 2.6% in 2013 and well below the government's target of about 3.5%.
The soft inflation figures are the latest showing a slowdown in the world's number two economy, with manufacturing, trade and investment all weak.
Gold fetched $1 211.42 an ounce, compared with $1 206.35 on Thursday.
In other markets:
- Taipei fell 0.24%, or 22.45 points, to 9215.58.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. fell 2.9 percent to Tw$134.0 while smartphone maker HTC rose 1.37 percent to Tw$148.0.
- Wellington rose 0.19%, or 10.79 points, to 5,584.84.
Fletcher Building was up 1.11% at NZ$8.21 while Meridian Energy eased 1.12% to NZ$1.76.
- Manila added 0.48%, or 35.09 points, to 7 402.72.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone rose 1.86% to 2 954.00 pesos and Metropolitan Bank was up 1.21% at 88.15 pesos.
- Mumbai rose 0.67%, or 183.67 points, to end at 27 458.38.
Hindustan Unilever rose 5.94 percent to 863.50 rupees, while National Thermal Power Corp fell 3.31 percent to 140.15 rupees.
- Bangkok closed up 0.51%, or 7.80 points, to 1 529.42.
Bank of Ayudhya jumped 11.73% to 50.00 baht, while telecoms company True Corporation gained 5.26% to 12.00 baht.
- Kuala Lumpur gained 0.25%, or 4.38 points, to 1 732.44.
Industrial conglomerate DRB-Hicom rose 3.14% to end at 1.64 ringgit, while mobile telecom provider Maxis gained 1.47% to close at 6.90 ringgit.
