China's recovery supports Asia stocks, dollar edges up

By Shinichi Saoshiro

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks nudged up on Friday as China's markets extended their recovery, while the dollar stretched gains versus the euro and yen as economic indicators reinforced expectations for a U.S. rate hike by the end of this year.

Spreadbetters expected Britain's FTSE, Germany's DAX and France's CAC to open slightly lower, reflecting a tepid performance by most Asian stocks with the exception of buoyant Chinese shares.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.3 percent as Chinese shares recovered further after a series of government support measures to halt their recent crash.

Advancing for the second straight day, Shanghai shares were up 2 percent as of 0520 GMT.

"Also we suspected the 'national team' has continued buying shares today to prevent the market from falling," said Zhang Qi, a stock analyst at Haitong Securities in Shanghai.

"National team" has become a commonly used collective term in China for the government agencies, banks, brokerages and mutual funds that are committed to buy into the market until wider investor confidence is restored.

Although drastic government measures have managed to stem its slide, the benchmark Shanghai index was set to end the week little changed. It is still down roughly 20 percent from a 7-1/2-year peak reached a month ago.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2 percent on a softer yen and up 4 percent on the week. South Korea's Kospi shed 0.5 percent on concerns second quarter corporate earnings could prove disappointing, particularly among ship builders.

Australian shares were little changed, losing steam after a three-day rally.

Moves in Europe on Thursday to reopen funding to near-bankrupt Greece also helped risk sentiment. Greece will receive bridge loans, enabling it to make a bond payment to the European Central Bank on Monday and clear arrears with the International Monetary Fund.

The lessening of foreseeable Greek risk also continued to push the euro lower, with focus back on U.S. and European monetary policy divergences.

"We have some sympathy with the argument that 'Grexit' would at least have resolved the doubts over Greece's position and that the euro should eventually end up stronger without its weakest member," analysts at Capital Economics wrote.

"The corollary is that a temporary deal which keeps Greece in the euro but fails to tackle the bigger issues, notably the need for a massive write-down of debt, simply prolongs the uncertainty and keeps the currency on the defensive."

The euro hovered close to a seven-week low of $1.0855 it tumbled to overnight. The dollar touched a three-week high of 124.235 yen, receiving a boost against its peers after Thursday's lower U.S. jobless claims reinforced market expectations for a rate hike this year.

The dollar index stood at 97.502 after surging to a seven-week peak of 97.756 overnight.

In commodities, oil prices rose slightly in thin trade in Asia, underpinned by a power outage at Britain's largest oilfield, though risks of oversupply following the Iranian nuclear deal and mixed economic data held back prices.

U.S. crude edged up 0.1 percent to $50.98 a barrel and Brent gained 0.3 percent to $57.09 a barrel.

(Additional reporting by Pete Sweeney in Beijing; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)