Investing.com - Asian shares gained on Friday as markets settled down from a volatile week and investors squared positions ahead of an apparent do-or-die weekend meeting on Greece's bailout program.
The Nikkei 225 rose 0.41% at the break, while the Shanghai Composite was up 6.19% in late morning trade. The Hang Seng index rose 2.08% and the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.96% despite downbeat housing data.
On Thursday in response to a wide range of regulations from the People's Bank of China aimed at curtailing selling spurred a rally in large-cap stocks, the Shanghai stock exchange 50 gained more than 6% on the session. Previously, Chinese equities had crashed more than 25% over the last month erasing approximately $3.5 trillion from stocks in its benchmark index.
Earlier, Japan reported corporate goods prices fell 0.2% month-on-month in June, well below the 0.1% gain seen. In Australia, home loans data for May showed a drop of 6.1%, more than the 3.5% fall seen month-on-month. Housing finance investment fell 3.2%.
On Thursday evening, Greece presented a signed copy of an emergency bailout to its troika of creditors three hours before the expiration of a midnight deadline. Under the new proposal, Greece agreed to a strict package of reforms and spending cuts worth up to €13 billion, according to the Guardian.
In exchange for the adoption of the austerity measures, the cash-strapped nation could receive approximately €50 billion in short-term funding needed to stave off bankruptcy. The proposal reportedly also includes modest debt-relief for the Mediterranean state, ahead of key repayments owed to the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund over the next several weeks.
European council president Donald Tusk has advocated for the inclusion of debt sustainability as a provision of the agreement.
The Greek Parliament is expected to approve the proposal on Friday before prime minister Alexis Tsipras heads to Brussels for an emergency summit over the weekend. Tsipras has also called for a meeting of Syriza party lawmakers at 0600 BST on Friday. Officials from the ECB, IMF and European Commission will now assess the revised plan ahead of the extraordinary summit.
During a frenzied week, Germany chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly insisted that a haircut or write-off on Greece's substantial debt obligations should remain off the negotiating table. Meanwhile, Tsipras communicated over the phone with U.S. president Barack Obama earlier in the week in an effort to convince Merkel and other top leaders from the euro zone to work feverishly to reach a deal.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Financials, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors led shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.19%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.23%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.26%.