Asian stock markets are higher on Friday following the rebound in Chinese stocks for a second day and on news that Greece has submitted a new bailout reform plan to its creditors in a last-ditch effort to save its economy as well as its place in the eurozone.
The Australian market opened higher, with miners and oil stocks leading the gainers following a rebound in commodity prices overnight.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index is adding 28.60 points or 0.52 percent to 5499.60, off a high of 5,522.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 29.30 0.54 5485.60.
Miners are advancing after iron ore prices climbed almost 10 percent overnight. BHP Billiton (BHP) and Fortescue Metals are gaining almost 1 percent, while Rio Tinto is adding more than 1 percent. BC Iron is higher by more than 3 percent.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining is losing 0.3 percent and Evolution Mining is down almost 1 percent despite higher gold prices.
In the oil sector, Oil Search is up more than 2 percent, Woodside Petroleum is adding almost 1 percent and Santos is up almost 2 percent after crude oil prices jumped overnight.
The big four banks are also higher. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac (WBK) are up in a range of 0.4 percent to more than 1 percent. Macquarie Group is adding almost 2 percent.
On the economic front, Australia will on Friday release May figures for home loans.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar lost ground against the U.S. dollar despite better-than-expected jobs data, a recovery of Chinese shares and a new Greek bailout proposal. In early trades, the local unit was trading at US$0.7449, down from Thursday's close of US$0.7477.
The Japanese market climbed into positive territory, after opening lower on Friday led by a sharp decline in the shares of market heavyweight Fast Retailing. Exporters are trading mixed.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is up 82.80 points or 0.42 percent to 19,938.30, after touching a low of 19,720.15 in early trades.
Market heavyweight and Uniqlo chain operator Fast Retailing reported higher sales and profit for the nine months ended May 31, but forecast sales to be weak in the fourth quarter. The company's shares are declining more than 6 percent.
Among the major exporters, Sony Corp. (SNE) is adding almost 1 percent and Sharp is advancing 2 percent, while Panasonic is down 0.4 percent and Toshiba is declining almost 1 percent.
In the tech sector, Casio Computer is higher by almost 4 percent and Kyocera is adding 0.8 percent, while Fanuc is down 0.4 percent.
Among auto stocks, Toyota (TM) is edging down 0.03 percent, while Suzuki is adding almost 2 percent, Honda is up 0.7 percent and Mazda is higher by 0.6 percent.
Honda is recalling another 4.5 million cars over issues relating to airbags manufactured by Takata Corp.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial (MTU) and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are adding more than 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is up 0.4 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Kyowa Hakko Kirin is gaining almost 7 percent, while West Japan Railway and Daiichi Sankyo are up 4 percent each.Meanwhile, Isetan Mitsukoshi is declining almost 4 percent and Sumco Corp. is losing more than 3 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 121 yen range on Friday, up from the lower 121 range at close on Thursday in Tokyo.
On the economic front, the Bank of Japan said that an index monitoring corporate service prices in Japan was down 0.2 percent on month in June. That missed forecasts for an increase of 0.1 percent, following the downwardly revised 0.2 percent increase in May.
On a yearly basis, prices dipped 2.4 percent - also shy of expectations for a fall of 2.2 percent - which would have been unchanged from the previous month following a downward revision from -2.1 percent.
Japan will also see June figures for its consumer confidence index later in the day.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 121 yen range on Friday, up from the lower 121 yen range at close on Thursday in Tokyo.
Among the other Asian markets, Shanghai is up more than 6 percent and Hong Kong is up more than 2 percent. South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are also higher. The markets in Taiwan are closed on Friday due to the approach of Typhoon Chan-hom.
On Wall Street, stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday, partly in reaction to a substantial rebound by Chinese stocks and on optimism about a deal between Greece and its creditors. However, the positive sentiment was partly offset by news that the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for global economic growth in 2015.
The Dow crept up 33.20 points or 0.2 percent to 17,548.62, the Nasdaq rose 12.64 points or 0.3 percent to 4,922.40 and the S&P 500 edged up 4.63 points or 0.2 percent to 2,051.31.
The major European markets also showed strong moves to the upside on Thursday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index shot up by 1.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index soared by 2.3 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil snapped a five-day loss to end sharply higher on Thursday, as Chinese equity markets rebounded while easing concerns of a slowdown in the global economy.
Crude Oil futures for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, jumped $1.13 or 2.2 percent to settle at $52.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday.
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May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.