Asian shares recover to end week on positive tone

Investing.com - Pressure on Asian shares eased Friday with stocks in Australia continuing to rebound, after U.S. markets reversed course overnight.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.5% Friday, on track to gain 2.0% for the week, as investors buy bank and other stocks with relatively strong dividend yields. Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) was leading the bank sector, up by more than 1.0%.

Japan's Nikkei 225, Asia's biggest victim to the recent jump in global volatility, was trading flat. The index fell more than 2% Thursday to a four-and-a-half-month low and remains down 10% from its year high late in September.

Stocks in Singapore were flat.

Overnight, U.S. stocks finished mixed as investors applauded upbeat U.S. data and earnings though concerns economies elsewhere may be cooling allowed for choppy trading.

The Dow 30 fell 0.15%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.01%, while the NASDAQ Composite index rose 0.03%.

Upbeat U.S. data released earlier Thursday drew applause on Wall Street.

The U.S. Department of Labor reported earlier that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending Oct. 11 fell by 23,000 to 264,000 from the previous week’s total of 287,000.

Analysts had expected jobless claims to rise by 3,000 to 290,000 last week.

Elsewhere on Thursday, data revealed that U.S. industrial production climbed 1.0% last month, beating expectations for a 0.4% rise. The August figure was revised to a 0.2% slip from a previously estimated 0.1% downtick.

In addition, the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia said its manufacturing index fell to 20.7 this month from a reading of 22.5 in September. Analysts had expected the index to decline to 20.0 in October.

Stocks also saw support after U.S. President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that the country's Center for Disease Control and Prevention would send rapid response teams to any new suspected Ebola cases in the U.S.

On Friday, the U.S. is to round up the week with reports on building permits and housing starts, as well as a preliminary report on consumer sentiment.