- Asian stocks advanced on Friday, shrugging off concerns about increasing interest rates and economic risks before the lunar new year holidays disrupt trading across many markets in the region next week.

- Hong Kong equities led advances, while Japanese stocks reversed tiny opening losses. Futures for US stocks gained as the Wall Street selloff appeared to be slowing on Thursday, when the S&P 500 fell for the third day in a row.

- Commodities and Asian equities have shrugged off some of this week's gloomy news from the US as traders bet on China's economic recovery. JP Morgan upped its estimate for the country's oil consumption growth and announced that it will reopen sooner and more quickly than projected.

- Treasuries were barely changed in Asia after remaining down throughout the US session, reflecting changes in German bunds following ECB's President Lagarde reaffirming her hawkish stance.

- The benchmark 10-yr bond yield in Japan was 0.405%, compared to the central bank's 0.5% cap. 10-yr yields in Australia were up 8 bps.