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SINGAPORE (MarketWatch) -- Asian stock markets posted solid gains Friday, cheered by Wall Street's charge higher and a retreat in oil prices Thursday, while Japanese exporters' shares rose on the yen's weakness.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 1.2%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.1% and South Korea's Kospi Composite was 1.2% higher.
The Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.2%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.3%, Taiwan's main index gained 0.7% and India's Sensex added 1.1%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up seven points in screen trade.
The DJIA rose 1.6% in New York on Thursday, and posted its biggest one day gain since Dec. 1 after solid jobless claims data and a pullback in oil prices.
April Nymex crude oil futures were recently down two cents at $101.89 per barrel on Globex, after easing 32 cents Thursday on reports that a settlement to the conflict in Libya could be on the horizon.
Still, a run toward the $105-$107 per barrel area over the next few weeks is possible, said Jim Ritterbusch, president of oil trading advisory firm Ritterbusch & Associates.
"We still view the Libyan situation as far from being defined or resolved and civil discontent in other Middle East and North Africa countries will remain deserving of a sizable security premium," he said.
U.S. data Thursday showed the number of workers filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly dropped last week to their lowest levels since May 2008, contrary to expectations for an increase. This has raised expectations for a strong showing in the key U.S. nonfarm payrolls report later in the global day.
The Nikkei's surge was led by bellwether exporters. "All the positives are lined up with oil prices down, U.S. stocks going up, and the yen weakening," said Masayoshi Yano, a senior market analyst at Meiwa Securities.
All 33 Topix subindexes were higher with Canon up 3.2% and Sony up 1.0%.
Sumitomo Electric Industries was up 8.2% on a Nikkei report that the company had developed a new rechargeable molten-salt battery like Sony VGP-BPL2 battery , Sony VGP-BPS2 battery , Sony VGP-BPS3 battery , Sony VGP-BPS5 battery , Sony VGP-BPS8 battery , Sony VGP-BPS9 battery , Sony PCG-R505 battery , Sony PCG-V505 battery , Sony PCG-Z505 battery while Konica Minolta rose 2.4% on a Nikkei report it had inked a major office equipment supply deal with Germany's Allianz.
The Shanghai market was trading in a tight range as investors trod carefully ahead of the annual two-week session of the National People's Congress that starts Saturday.
"We're unlikely to see any sharp drops or gains in the market in the near term, as the market may have factored in the impact of the potential supportive industrial policies that investors expect to be launched during the meeting," said Jacky Zhang, an analyst from Capital Securities.
Banks were mostly higher on expectations they will report strong full-year 2010 earnings. China Merchants Bank rise 0.6% and ICBC gained 0.5%.
Gold miners fell following the retreat in gold prices Thursday. Shandong Gold-Mining was down 1.1%, while Zijin Mining fell 0.9%.