Asian stocks rallied Friday, led higher by financials and technology shares, although analysts said losses could wind up back on the agenda next week.
The Nikkei 225 Stock Average tacked on 171.29 points, or 1.9%, to end the week at 9,265.02
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong strengthened 249.01 points, or 1.5%, to 16,790.70.
Now that the earnings reporting season is drawing to a close, analysts said trading in Tokyo next week will likely focus on data such as Japan's gross domestic product, U.S. industrial output and euro-zone GDP.
Indeed, the euro-zone economy was shown to have suffered its sharpest slump on record in the first quarter, shrinking 2.5% from the previous quarter and 4.6% from a year earlier. Germany, France and Italy all reported contracting GDP.
Despite the upbeat tone to Friday's Asian session, some in the market were still cautious as they scrambled to determine whether markets have established a base after the strong rally in recent weeks.
In Tokyo, Panasonic got added to the roster of Japanese blue chips posting grim financial results. The company reported after the close of trading a fiscal-year net loss of 379 billion yen ($3.95 billion U.S.) and forecast a further loss of 195 billion yen for the business year ending March 31, 2010.
Shares of Panasonic ended 4.8% higher, ahead of the results announcement.
Asian financial stocks were higher, riding the coattails of their U.S. counterparts.
Big gains were seen among several notables in Tokyo. Shares of Nomura Holdings moved up 5.3% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group jumped 6.8%, while insurer Tokio Marine Holdings added 5.3%.
In Seoul, shares of Shinhan Financial advanced 5.5% as KB Financial gained 4.2%. And in Hong Kong, shares of HSBC Holdings gained 3.3%.
In Taiwan, Taishin Financial was up 5.5% after the company said on Thursday that it would sell its brokerage unit to KGI Securities, shares of which rose its daily limit of 7%.
Technology stocks gained, boosted by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite's overnight rise and by better-than-expected Japanese core machinery orders for March, which showed a seasonally adjusted 1.3% drop from February -- far shallower than expectations for a decrease of 5.1%.
Hitachi Ltd. added 2.9% higher and Nikon moved up 4.1% in Tokyo, while LG Electronics was up 1.8% and Samsung Electronics was 0.5% higher in Seoul.
Also in Tokyo, Sony shares gained 7.1%.
After Thursday's close, the electronics giant reported a 98.9-billion yen net loss for the last financial year ended March and forecast a loss of 120 billion yen for this financial year, due to slumping sales for televisions, digital cameras and other electronics.
The stock reversed Thursday's sharp losses as its outlook was largely in line with expectations, however.
In Australia, shares of Rio Tinto surged 7.4%.
The commodities giant reaffirmed its commitment to an investment alliance with Chinalco, although speculation persisted that it will be forced to raise capital through a share-rights issue.
Separately, UBS analysts suggested in a report that rival BHP Billiton could assist Rio Tinto by underwriting a substantial rights issue, in exchange for an iron-ore joint venture in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
In foreign-exchange markets, the U.S. dollar fell to 94.88 yen from 95.77 yen.
A standout was the New Zealand dollar, which fell against its U.S. counterpart.
Economic data showed first-quarter retail sales volumes were down 2.9% from the quarter before, compared with a 1.7% decline expected by economists.
Elsewhere:
China’s Shanghai 300 Composite Index inched up 3.52 points, or 0.1%, to 2,792.60
Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 17.67 points, or 0.8% to 2,139.78
South Korea’s Kospi index gained 10.78 points, or 0.8% to 1,391.73
Taiwan’s Taiex index zoomed 124.92 points, or 2% to 6,489.09
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index moved 14.78, or 0.5%, higher, to 2,790.90.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 49.80 points, or 1.3% to 3,773.20.
