Asian share markets were higher Friday, with stocks in Tokyo powering higher on hopes the Bank of Japan would ease policy further.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo regained 223.24 points, or 2.2%, to 10.368.96
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong picked up 212.19 points, or 1%, to 20,787.97.
In Japan, stocks were lifted by a Nikkei report that the Bank of Japan will likely consider more monetary easing through April, including the expansion of fund-provision measures introduced in December.
The U.S. dollar has fallen over 4% against the yen in the past two weeks, causing concern among exporters.
If the BOJ eases further, it "will have a healing effect on the economy as a whole," said one expert.
Sony surged 2.9%, buoyed by news the company was developing a new lineup of handheld products, including a smart phone capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games, according to people familiar with matter.
Fast Retailing was up 2.9%, Canon was up 3.2% and Tokyo Electron was up 0.7%.
Taiwan liquid crystal display makers were up after most of the companies reported that the impact from Thursday's earthquake on operations was limited. AU Optronics was up 1.4% and Chi Mei Optoelectronics gained 1.5%.
In Australia, Macquarie Equities client adviser Lucinda Chan said she didn't expect much of a run higher before the U.S. jobs numbers. "There are also ongoing developments in Greece. That's looking a bit better than expected, but the issues won't be worked out overnight," she said.
She noted there was little in the way of corporate news to drive action and the holiday on Monday in Victoria and Canberra was also fuelling profit-taking in some stocks.
Resources stocks were slightly higher with BHP Billiton up 0.4% and Rio Tinto up 0.8%.
In Korea, investors were cautious ahead of the U.S. jobs data. KB Financial was up 0.4%, Shinhan Financial added 0.9% and Samsung Electronics was up 1.2%. Hyundai Heavy rose 2.1% as worries eased about the possibility of ship order cancellation from Greece.
Foreign exchange majors were trading in tight ranges ahead of the U.S. payrolls data. A Dow Jones Newswire poll of analysts tipped a decline of 75,000 jobs in February, though there was a risk of a worse-than-expected result considering the bad weather in that month.
Investors were also watching for any fresh developments from the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou's meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, later on Friday.
The euro was at $1.3591 against the U.S. dollar, from $1.3576 in late New York trade Thursday, and at Y121.24 from Y120.98. The dollar was at Y89.21 from Y89.09.
CHINA
China shares wove in and out of positive territory as investors turned cautious despite Premier Wen Jiabao's pledge to maintain economic growth and keep the yuan stable.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index gained 9.19 points, or 0.3%, to 3,259.76
Addressing the National People's Congress Friday, Wen also reaffirmed the government's 8% gross domestic product growth target for 2010.
China Construction Bank was up 0.2% and Poly Real Estate Group gained 0.1%.
Elsewhere;
Korea’s Kospi index recouped 16.37 points, or 1%, to 1,634.57
Singapore’s Straits Times Index put back 21.59 points, or 0.8%, to 2,790.29
Taiwan’s Taiex Index tacked on 96.46 points, or 1.3%, to 7,666.26
New Zealand’s NZX Index improved 1.09 points to 3,214.64
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 moved up 16.70 points, or 0.4%, to 4,767.20
