• The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 69.17 points, or 0.33 percent, to 20,728.49, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 6.93 points, or 0.29 percent, to 2,368.06 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 16.80 points, or 0.28percent, to 5,914.34.
Wall Street gained on Thursday, led by financial shares, after data showed U.S. economic growth was stronger than previously reported last quarter, helped by robust consumer spending, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq set a record closing high.
• Stock markets in Asia were off a bit despite solid gains on Wall Street as investors awaited China's official manufacturing purchasing managers index data for March.
The focus will be on whether the uptick in activity over the past few months holds up. The data is expected at 0100 GMT.
• MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS retreated 0.2 percent, poised to post an almost 13 percent gain for the first three months of the year.
• Japan's Nikkei .N225 jumped 0.5 percent after Japanese core consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in February. While that is the fastest annual pace in nearly two years, it is still a far cry from the central bank's 2 percent target.
Reference: Reuters
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