Asian stocks dipped on Friday, but still headed for their best weekly gain in four months as hopes the global economy could not get any worse continue to bolster riskier assets.
The MSCI index of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan looks set to surge nearly 20% in March to mark its second best month in its 21-year history since December 1993, though a Reuters poll shows strategists still expect a tough 2009.
The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan fell 0.3% on Friday after earlier hitting a 11-week high. That was still good enough for about a 9% gain on the week, its largest weekly rise since late November.
Japan's Nikkei share average dipped 0.1% on Friday after earlier touching a two-and-a-half month high.
The Nikkei index dropped 9.36 points to 8,626.97, while the broader Topix index of all first-section shares fell 2.28 points to 824.53.
In New Zealand, the benchmark index was up 37 points, or 1.2%, to 2653 on turnover of $71 million.
Government bond yields eased slightly after a surge in the previous day prompted the Reserve Bank to deny talk it was holding an emergency meeting over the two-week long selloff in the debt market. The key five-year swaps rate eased to about 4.95% from 5.02%.
Top shares surged, with Contact Energy up 36 cents to $6.15 and Fletcher Building rising 26c to $6.40. Telecom was down 2c to $2.28.
The Australian share market closed marginally higher after gains from the big miners drove the bourse into positive territory.
At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 25.7 points, or 0.7% higher at 3672.3, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 29.3 points, or 0.82% to 3615.6.