Asian stocks rose on Friday, with Japan's Nikkei up almost 3 percent, as chip makers extended a rally on expectations a slump in the sector may soon end, while the dollar steadied ahead of the G7 meeting later in the day, Reuters reported. Asian shares looked set to post a modest gain for the week, marking a third consecutive week of gains, though trading has been volatile amid revived concerns about a global financial crisis and a weakening U.S. economy. European shares were set to gain on Friday, breaking a three-day losing streak, as the euro and crude oil traded well below the records hit in recent sessions. Oil prices continued to retreat from a record $112.21 hit on Wednesday, easing some of the concerns about inflation that had contributed to the volatility in stock markets. The MSCI's measure of Asian stocks outside Japan rose 0.7 percent as of 0610 GMT. The index is up 0.5 percent for the week, extending a recovery that saw it gain over 10 percent during the previous two weeks. Japan's Nikkei average gained 2.9 percent. Fast Retailing Co surged 5.2 percent after the retailer raised on Thursday its full-year operating profit forecast by 10 percent on the back of a recovery at its Uniqlo casual clothing chain. Technology shares, such as world's largest maker of microchip testers Advantest Corp, proved a bright spot as well, after chip makers on Wall Street gained overnight on an upgrade by Banc of America Securities of the U.S. semiconductor sector. Asian chip makers such as Hynix Semiconductor Inc had already rallied on Thursday following announcements including from Japan's Elpida Memory Inc that it would raise prices for some of its memory chips. "The latest moves by chipmakers are raising hopes that perhaps the memory chip market downturn has hit bottom and will gradually get better from here," said Suh Do-won, an analyst at Hanwha Securities in Seoul. "Over-supply concern still weighs heavily on memory chipmakers, but investors are hungry for the slightest good news and they are quickly responding to it," he added. Shares in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and India gained by around 1 percent each. The volatile Shanghai index was up 0.4 percent.
