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Caution was likely to prevail in broader global markets despite the recent sell-offs, with concerns also focusing on the fate of U.S. auto makers, which are seeking billions of dollars in government aid. "We are staring at great values here but people are not willing to accept it because of all the uncertainty that's around the place," said Michael Heffernan, strategist at Austock Securities in Australia.
The MSCI index of Asian shares outside Japan rose 0.5 percent as of 0240 GMT, though it was still en route to a weekly loss of nearly 4 percent. The Nikkei average was up 0.7 percent, while key indexes in South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore were up between 1 and 2 percent. Shares in Taiwan fell, while markets in China and Australia were little changed.
The overall gains followed steep rate cuts by central banks worldwide as they respond to a deepening global downturn. On Thursday the European Central Bank dropped its benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage point, while Sweden lopped 1.75 percentage points and the Bank of England cut rates by 1 percentage point. Governments are also taking action. South Korea repeated on Friday pledges to do more to keep Asia's fourth-largest economy on tack, and listed automobile, semiconductor and petrochemical firms as those hardest hit by the global downturn.
EMPLOYMENT DATA Investors were shifting their focus to U.S. employment data due out later on Friday, with a Reuters poll of economists forecasting a contraction of more than 300,000 in payrolls. The report could thus become the latest bleak signal about the global economy. Companies from AT&T Inc to banks such as Credit Suisse are cutting jobs as they face the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The ensuing risk aversion is benefitting asset classes seen as relative safe-havens such as the dollar.
The dollar climbed 0.3 percent to 92.52 yen after hitting its lowest point in five weeks at 92.05 yen on electronic trading platform EBS in U.S. trading. The euro dropped 0.2 percent to $1.2755, giving up some of the single currency's gains on Thursday, when investors lauded the ECB's bolder-than-expected interest rate cut as a proactive step to stave off a deep recession.
Oil steadied at $43.60 a barrel after slumping more than 6 percent to its lowest level since January 2005 on Thursday. Crude prices have fallen some 16 percent since last week, and are now more than $100 below the all-time high of $147.27 hit in July. Gold also steadied at $768.90 an ounce after its fall on Thursday.
