Asian stocks set for losing week on growth concerns

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.1%, Nikkei flat after closing at its lowest in 2 months

Asian stocks and the euro steadied on Friday, but were on course for a losing week as worries about weak corporate earnings and slowing global economic growth limit the appeal of riskier assets.

Mining stocks, sold off earlier in the week, led gains after a bounce in copper and iron ore prices on Thursday.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.1 percent, with the materials sub-index gaining 0.4 percent. Japan's Nikkei was flat after closing at its lowest in two months on Thursday.

The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index is down just over 1 percent on the week, while the Nikkei has shed more than 3.5 percent.

"Later today in the U.S., J.P. Morgan will release its earnings," said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities in Tokyo. "Then we'll have more earnings next week, and the expectations are not high. If results are disappointing, stocks will sell off, so that makes it difficult to buy now."

Wall Street stocks ended flat on Thursday after gains brought by signs of improvement in the jobs market were erased in part by a drop in Apple shares after a U.S. court overturned a sales ban on Samsung Electronic' s <005930.KS> smartphones in their patent battle.

The euro steadied around $1.2935 after three days of declines that have left it down around three-quarters of a percent on the week. The dollar was broadly flat, having been pushed up around 0.5 percent on the week by investors seeking safety in the U.S. currency.

Commodities - with the exception of oil - were also mostly on course for a losing week, with Thursday's brief rebound quickly losing steam.

Copper was down around 0.2 percent on Friday and gold was flat.

Middle East tensions continued to support oil, with Brent crude firming a few cents to above $115.75 a barrel, while U.S. crude gained 0.4 percent to $92.44.