Asian shares rallied on Friday as techs such as Sony Corp cheered a jump in their US peers, while the yen hit a five-week high against the dollar before easing on suspected intervention.
Financial bookmakers in London expected Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 to open higher on the gains in US and Asian shares.
Shares were recovering after volatile trading in the past two weeks dominated by global security fears following the bombs in Madrid, Israel's killing of Hamas' spiritual leader, a disputed presidential poll in Taiwan and the impeachment of South Korea's president.
The dollar hit an early low around 105.63 yen, its lowest since Feb. 18, on growing optimism about Japan's economic recovery. Oil edged up after falling US$1.50 on Thursday amid doubts that OPEC will cut output on April 1 as planned.
Japanese shares closed up 2.1 percent at a 22-month high of 11,770.65. The rise, after data showed household spending rose for the fourth consecutive month in February, took the index's gains so far this year to 10 percent.
"High-tech shares had been out of the loop but big gains in New York stocks brought them back," said Toshihiko Matsuno, a senior strategist at SMBC Friend Securities' investment research department.
Brushing off the threat of a stronger yen, Tokyo Electron Ltd, Japan's largest producer of chip-making equipment, soared 6.7 percent, Sony Corp rose 4.1 percent and chip testing device maker Advantest surged seven percent.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.6 percent.
The yen eased back to the 106 level on what traders said was dollar-buying intervention by Japanese authorities around the 105.70 level to protect an export-led economic recovery.
But some traders said it was just a matter of time before it broke through the 105 level, given its jump of nearly six percent from around 112 in just three weeks.
"Just a month ago, there was concern about the yen's outlook, but looking at its position right now, you have to consider what's changed, and that's this piling up of positive fundamental data," said a manager at a Japanese bank.
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