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• The Asia-Pacific region’s equities took cues from Wall Street, after all three of its indexes posted gains overnight on strength in bank and energy stocks and news the U.S. economy grew in the third quarter at its fastest pace in more than two years. [.N]

Supporting U.S. stocks this week, and by extension global equities, was the passage through Congress of a $1.5 trillion tax-cutting bill.MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was 0.5 percent higher.

• Japan’s Nikkei share average was flat on Friday morning as gains in commodities trading houses offset weakness in drugmakers, while Kobe Steel stumbled after it said senior executives were aware of data tampering.

The Nikkei was flat at 22,869.58 in midmorning trade. For the week, it has gained 1.4 percent so far, the biggest weekly percentage gain in more than a month.

• China stocks dipped on Friday, as weakness in banking and consumer stocks offset gains in the energy sector, but the indexes were up for the week.

At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 2.70 points or 0.08 percent at 3,297.36.

Reference: Reuters, CNBC