Equities in Japan, Australia and South Korea rose. Shares in Hong Kong and China traded higher to extend recent advances, helped along by news reports that Chinese officials would remove restrictions on property developer borrowing. Contracts for European futures and those for the S&P 500 rose after the US index fell 1.2% on Thursday.

Treasury 10-year yields retreated slightly after their first gain of the week on Thursday following comments from Fed officials. The dollar steadied and the yen fell after the Bank of Japan unveiled further unscheduled bond buying to control its yield curve. 

The broadly positive sentiment precedes US nonfarm payroll data to be released on Friday. Estimates peg a decline in new jobs added, indicating a cooling in the labour market that would in turn reduce the need for higher interest rates. However, private payrolls data released on Thursday surpassed estimates and a surprise fall in new claims for unemployment benefits underscored a robust jobs market.

“What the Fed really wants to see is some slack build up in the labour markets, in hopes it can do this gently without creating much of a downturn,” Raghuram Rajan, a former governor of India’s central bank, said on Bloomberg Television. “But it may well be that by the time it seems that it will have raised rates enough, that the momentum takes us down to a mild recession at the very least.”

Market pricing for US interest rates to peak in June increased to above 5% following comments from Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic, who said the central bank still has “much work to do” to tame inflation. St Louis Fed president James Bullard said rates were approaching a sufficiently restrictive zone and that inflation expectations had retreated, offering investors some optimism.

There are increasing signs of pressure on technology companies, with Samsung Electronics Co the latest to report on a demand slump resulting in a 69% plunge in operating profit. Shares in the South Korean giant rose as speculation mounted that the hit to earnings would prompt the company to reduce capital expenditure.  

The rise in European stock futures comes ahead of eurozone consumer price index data due later today. Consensus forecasts suggest inflation fell to 9.5% in December from a year earlier, down from 10.1% recorded in November.

Oil rose further after a string of declines that wiped nearly 10% from the price of crude. The price of gold increased after retreating Thursday from a six-month high reached earlier in the week. BM/DM