Asian stocks climb, euro surrenders gains as French election jitters return

By Nichola Saminather

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian stocks were set to end the week with a bang, lifted by bets on strong U.S. earnings and tax reform, while the euro retreated from a three-week high as jitters returned over French presidential elections on Sunday after a shooting in Paris.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.6 percent, although it is still poised for a 0.3 percent weekly loss.

Asian steelmakers mostly clocked gains despite the launch of a trade probe by the U.S. against China and other exporters of cheap steel into the U.S, after the move sent their U.S. counterparts surging over 8 percent overnight.

Chinese steelmaker Baoshan Iron and Steel Co. added 0.8 percent, Angang Steel added 0.8 percent, while Beijing Shougang was steady and Hesteel Co. swung between gains and losses.

Other major steel producers in the region also gained, with Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. jumping 1.35 percent, and South Korea's Posco surging 2.1 percent.

"It's questionable whether there will be actual curbs or actions after a U.S. probe," said Yi Hyun-soo, a steel analyst at Yuant Securities. "We'll have to see what kind of action will be taken."

Japan's Nikkei advanced 0.9 percent, on track for a weekly gain of 1.4 percent.

Chinese shares added 0.35 percent, and Hong Kong stocks increased 0.4 percent.

The euro was marginally higher at $1.0716 on Friday. On Thursday, it jumped to 1.0778, its highest level since March 29, and French stocks soared 1.5 percent after polls showed French centrist Emmanuel Macron easily beating far-right, anti-European Union candidate Marine Le Pen in the second round on May 7 after both prevail in the first round on Sunday.

But the euro fell back to close only slightly higher after a shooting on the Champs-Elysees boulevard, in which one policeman was killed and two others were wounded. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the group's Amaq news agency, and the Paris prosecutor said the gunman had been identified.

"Euro bulls will definitely respond to positive news around Macron, but that dissipates as the reality of low turnouts sets in," said Alfonso Esparza, senior currency analyst at OANDA in Toronto.

"Everybody remembers the Brexit polls and even the U.S. election polls. After those misses it is going to take a lot to make the markets trust them again."

French 10-year Treasury yields slumped to a three-month low of 0.856 percent on Thursday, while safe-haven German bund yields jumped to 0.244 percent, their highest close in two weeks.

Markets are awaiting several economic indicators from Europe later in the session, including Eurozone manufacturing and services figures for April and British retail sales for March, to be followed by U.S. manufacturing and services data for April and existing home sales for March.

Wall Street indexes closed between 0.75 percent and 0.9 percent higher on rising expectations for first-quarter corporate profits. S&P 500 stock index company earnings now are expected to have gained 11.1 percent in the first quarter.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he would unveil a plan to cut taxes "soon, very soon" and predicted it would be passed by Congress this year.

The dollar was slightly lower at 109.22 yen, retaining most of Thursday's 0.4 percent gain. It is up 0.6 percent for the week.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of trade-weighted peers, was fractionally higher at 99.82, on track to lose 0.7 percent this week.

In commodities, oil was stronger on Friday following Thursday's choppy session as a tussle continued between worries over rising U.S. production and optimism over comments from leading Gulf oil producers that an extension to OPEC-led supply cuts was likely.

U.S. oil jumped 1 percent to $50.76 a barrel on Friday, its biggest one-day gain in almost two weeks, shrinking losses for the week to 4.55 percent.

Global benchmark Brent was more muted, rising 0.1 percent to $53.04, heading for a 4.1 percent weekly loss.

Gold slipped 0.1 percent to $1,279.91 an ounce, as investors remained hesitant ahead of the French election. It is poised for a weekly loss of 0.4 percent.

(Reporting by Nichola Saminather; Additional reporting by Sadiq Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Eric Meijer)