Most stock markets across Asia were modestly higher, but Sydney's main index surged back towards the 6,000 mark, last glimpsed in February, as top miner BHP Billiton jumped, propelled by speculation of Chinese interest in the firm.

Global stocks festered at the start of this year as worries about the credit crisis and the state of the US economy corroded profits and rattled banks. But Wall Street's fear has subsided and Thursday brought the CBOE Volatility Index to its lowest close since October and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to their highest closing levels since early January.

KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysian share prices closed 0.5 per cent higher on Friday led by industrial, oil and gas and plantation stocks following Wall Street's overnight gains, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was up 6.52 points at 1,300.67.

HONG KONG
Hong Kong share prices closed higher on Friday, up 0.41 per cent, supported by oil firm PetroChina on hopes it may benefit from a Chinese government tax measure, dealers said.

Property firm Cheung Kong also helped buoy the market following a broker's upgrade, they added.

The Hang Seng index closed up 105.15 points at 25,618.86, off a low of 25,533.60 and a high of 25,748.33. Turnover was HK79.65 billion (S$14.08 billion).

For the week, the index was up 555 points or 2.21 per cent. PetroChina surged nearly 3.8 per cent after a report that the Chinese government may raise the threshold for windfall taxes on domestic crude oil production.

China Petroleum and Chemical(Sinopec) rose more than 3 per cent as a decline in crude oil prices was expected to ease losses in its oil refining operations.Dealers said the market was also supported by interest in select large-caps, including HSBC and China Mobile, and companies expected to benefit from reconstruction work in earthquake-hit areas on the mainland.

SHANGHAI
China's key stock index slipped 0.36 per cent on Friday in light trade, weighed down by Bank of Communications as 13.2 billion of its A shares emerged from a lock-up period while shares of firms in earthquake-hit Sichuan Province were mixed.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended at 3,624.233 points, after dipping as low as 3,582.500. 'The Bank of Communications (lock-up expiry) heightened investor worries over whether the market, in its current weakened state, could handle an influx of additional shares,' said Cao Xuefeng, analyst at West China Securities based in Chendu, the capital of Sichuan Province.

'I expect the index will continue consolidating for a few days, but regain strength along with reconstruction and stabilisation in Sichuan Province.'

The index had fallen 0.55 per cent on Thursday as blue-chip shares dropped in late trade, after holding firm in the immediate days following Monday's quake.

Analysts and local media had reported talk earlier in the week that the government was encouraging market participants to help preserve stability in the market.

Friday's losing stocks in Shanghai outnumbered gainers by 641 to 212, although blue chips were mostly firmer.Turnover in Shanghai A shares shrank to 89.3 billion yuan (S$17.6 billion ) from Thursday's 112.2 billion yuan.

Financial shares were mixed, with Bank of Communications dropping 3.07 per cent to 9.46 yuan while Haitong Securities raced up its 10 per cent daily limit to 56.39 yuan in the afternoon after announcing a generous bonus share plan.Industrial and Commercial Bank of China , the country's largest lender, ended unchanged at 6.21 yuan.

TOKYO
Japanese share prices closed narrowly mixed on Friday as investors locked in gains after the benchmark index hit a four-month high a day earlier in tandem with recent gains on Wall Street, dealers said.

They said optimism over better-than-expected Japanese economic growth figures had been tempered by analyst warnings of a slowdown later in the year.

The benchmark Nikkei index fell 32.26 points or 0.23 per cent to end at 14,219.48, but the broader Topix index of all first-section shares gained 3.00 points or 0.22 per cent to 1,395.87. -- REUTERS,AFP