Asia set to open higher after strong earnings help Wall Street

Asia markets were set to trade higher on Friday, after strong quarterly results from some of the biggest U.S. companies helped gains on Wall Street.

Australia's SPI futures traded at 5,938, a touch higher than the benchmark ASX 200's previous close at 5,910.80.

Nikkei futures in Chicago traded at 22,450 while Osaka futures were at 22,440. That pointed to a higher open for the Japanese index, which last finished at 22,319.61.

Elsewhere, the dollar stayed above the 91.00 level against a basket of major currencies. The dollar index last traded at 91.561.

The Japanese yen traded at 109.32 to the greenback and the Australian dollar last traded at $0.7555.

The euro traded at $1.2103 on Friday morning Asia time. Overnight, the European Central Bank held interest rates steady amid signs the euro area's growth outlook may have softened.

A top advisor to Iran's supreme leader said Tehran would not accept any change to the 2015 nuclear deal, Reuters reported. The news wire said Western signatories to the agreement were preparing a new package to persuade U.S. President Donald Trump to stick with the accord.

Source: Bloomberg Pro Terminal

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