Asian shares get lift from Wall Street

Asian shares rose on Friday following gains on Wall Street, while the dollar firmed after facing pressure from a rise in the yuan, but gains were capped by uncertainty over whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates next week. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up about 0.8 per cent, and on track to rise more than 3 per cent for the week. Chinese shares got off to a wobbly start, with the CSI300 index and Shanghai Composite Index up slightly by late morning after bobbing in and out of negative territory. On Wall Street, major indexes marked solid rises on Thursday, but European stocks broke a three-day run of gains with a drop of nearly 1.5 per cent Japan's Nikkei stock index dipped 0.1 per cent, but pared earlier losses and was poised to end a choppy week more than 2 per cent higher, even as investors remained cautious. The dollar index, which tracks the US unit against a basket of six major rivals, edged up about 0.1 per cent to 95.523. The dollar rose about 0.2 per cent higher against the yen to 120.81, while the euro was nearly flat from US levels at $1.1281. Spot gold inched up from US levels to $1,112.20 an ounce, but was still on track to drop nearly 1 per cent for the week, according to Reuters.

-Shuvo-