Japan's Nikkei share average climbed to a one-week high Friday as global cyclical shares such as carmakers rose on improved US economic data.
The Nikkei rose 1.2% to 9,051.22, ending above the 9,000 mark for the first time in a week. The index gained 1.3% for the week.
Improved US consumer confidence and private-sector jobs data lifted sentiment ahead of US non-farm payroll figures due later on Friday. The news lifted the dollar against the yen, which was quoted at 80.25 yen to the dollar, boosting the appeal of Japanese exporters.
Honda Motor Co climbed 3.3% to 2,467 yen and Nissan Motor Co gained 2.1%.
The broader Topix index also added 1.2% on Friday, to 752.09.
Analysts say that exporters may stay strong until the middle of next week, helped by the weaker yen.
"The Nikkei may stay above the 9,000 mark until Tuesday's US presidential election," said Hikaru Sato, a senior technical analyst at Daiwa Securities, adding that investors "wouldn't want to change their positions drastically until the big event is over."
He said that investors may stay slightly positive, but after the election, they will look carefully at what the next leader can do to improve the labor market.
Data from payroll processor ADP showed US companies added 158,000 jobs in October - the fastest pace in eight months - and US consumer confidence jumped last month to its highest in more than four years.
Economists surveyed by Reuters forecast 125,000 jobs were created in the United States last month compared with 114,000 jobs created in September, while the unemployment rate is seen at 7.9% versus 7.8% in September.
WEAK QUARTERLY EARNINGS
Quarterly company earnings have been weak so far amid spluttering global growth, with 59% of the 90 Nikkei companies that have reported results undershooting market expectations, data from Thomson Reuters StarMine showed. That compared with 54% in the previous quarter.
Struggling TV maker Sharp Corp. fell 2.4% to 165 yen after warning it might not be able to survive. The company, whose stock had Friday's highest volume, almost doubled its full-year net loss forecast to $5.6 billion.
Goldman Sachs, in a note that kept a "sell" rating, said that even if Sharp can improve its free cash flow and keep getting bank support, the shares "are overvalued given profit dilution from a potential capital raise."
Panasonic Corp, another consumer electronics maker, dropped 0.7%, extending the previous session's 19.5% slide after it forecast a $9.6 billion net loss for the business year, nearly matching last year's record net loss. The stock had Friday's highest turnover.
Sony Corp eked out a small quarterly operating profit, helped by the sale of a non-core chemicals business. It kept its forecast for a full-year operating profit of 130 billion yen, sending its shares up 2.1% to 934 yen.
Among many companies which cut their annual earnings guidance were Nikon Corp and printed circuit boards maker Ibiden Co Ltd <4062.T>. Nikon lost 6.1% to 1,928 yen and Ibiden sank 8.6% to a nine-year low.
The benchmark Nikkei is up 7.0% this year, trailing a 13.5% rise in the US S&P 500 <.INX> and an 11.9% gain in the pan-European STOXX Europe 600 index.
Still, Japanese equities are more expensive than their European peers, with a 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio of 11.6 versus STOXX Europe 600's 10.9, according to Datastream. The S&P 500 carries a 12-month forward P/E of 12.6.
Volume on Friday was 1.88 billion shares, above Thursday's 1.85 billion and 17% higher than the daily average over the past 90 days.
