Crompton Greaves spurts on winning new contract

The stock is now trading at the highest level of the day - with a gain of 2 percent on the BSE.

Crompton Greaves has strengthened its gains in the early morning deals on the BSE, on the back of winning new contract.

Yesterday after market, Crompton Greaves informed BSE that is has signed a new contract to provide ZIV protections to Saudi Electricity Company (SEC).

Currently, the stock is trading at the highest level of the day - with a gain of 2 percent to Rs. 196.30.

So far 323,000 shares have changed hands at the counter as compared to its daily average volume of 483,000 shares in the past two weeks.

Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark, Sensex, is up seven points at 28,454.

Dishman Pharma surges ahead of results

The company is scheduled to announce its results today.

Dishman Pharmaceuticals & Chemicals continues to trade on strong note on the BSE, on hopes that the firm may report strong set of earnings.

The company is scheduled to announce its results today.

The stock rallied to a high of Rs. 178 so far during the day. Now Dishman Pharma is up nearly 3 percent at Rs. 174.

On the BSE, the counter has registered trades of around 130,000 shares as against the two-week daily average volume of 119,000 shares.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex is flat at 28,443.

20 Stocks in focus today

Check out the companies which will be in focus during trade today based on recent and latest news developments.

Apollo Health and Lifestyle Limited (AHLL) said that it is ready to relaunch the recently acquired short-stay surgery hospital chain Nova Specialty Hospitals as Apollo Spectra Hospitals and set a target for revenue growth to Rs. 1.6 billion in FY16.

Titagarh Wagons announced acquisition of Italy-based Firema Trasporti to foray into metro coach and high-speed train manufacturing.

Biocon has set the price band for an initial public offering of its clinical research services arm Syngene International Ltd in the range of Rs. 240 to Rs. 250 a share.

Mindtree Ltd will be spending nearly Rs 4.2bn to acquire two companies, Bluefin Solutions and Relational Solutions. The Company has posted a net profit of Rs. 1,370 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 as compared to Rs. 1,294 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2014.

Wockhardt is recalling 162k cartons of various drugs, which are used to treat ailments like high blood pressure and ulcer, in the US market due to deviations in current good manufacturing practice norms laid down by the American health regulator.

Bharti Airtel launched 4G trials for its customers in the twin cities of Huballi and Dharwad in north Karnataka.

Great Eastern Shipping is planning to raise up to Rs. 5bn through non-convertible debentures (NCDs) on a private placement basis.

Lupin gets USFDA nod for generic Prandiment drug

Tata Motors plans to raise Rs. 4,400 crore from NCDs during the current fiscal to meet its expansion plan.

Asian Paints is planning to set up Rs. 2,300 crore water-based paint manufacturing unit in Karnataka.

GAIL is planning to invest close to $1.5 bn (about Rs 9,500 crore) to acquire a shale gas asset in the United States.The company has contracts with producers in the US to buy about 6 million tonnes of LNG annually for 20 years, beginning 2017-18.

SpiceJet reported the highest load factors of 93.2% during the month of June on the back of its discount offering followed by IndiGo that is at 86.6%, shows passenger data for June relased by DGCA.

Crompton Greaves has signed a new contract to provide ZIV protections for Saudi Electricity Company (SEC), the largest power utility company in the Middle East serving approximately five million customers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

DB Corp reported a 16.01 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit at Rs 66.45 crore for the first quarter of 2015-16. 

Cyient reported 9.2 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 74.8 crore for the quarter ended June, 2015 as against Rs 68.5 crore in the same quarter last year. 

Karnataka Bank gets shareholders approval to raise Rs. 5 bn via QIP

Aditya Birla Nuvo subsidiary Pantaloons Fashion has linked an agreement with Flipkart to sell its in-house brands on the latest platform.

Delta Corp has announced a net profit after taxes, Minority Interest and Share of Profit/(Loss) of Associates of Rs. 1.010 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 as compared to net loss of Rs. 195.710 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2014.

PMC Fincorp Ltd has announced a net profit of Rs. 9.382 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 as compared to Rs. 28.083 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2014.

State Bank of India is seeking government's permission to share up to 3% of its annual profits to staff in incentives. In an attempt to attract and retain talent, the leading public sector bank also plans to give stock options to employees above the rank of assistant/deputy general manager.

Sharing is caring! SBI wants to share profits with employees

A report says that the bank also plans to give stock options to employees above the rank of assistant/deputy general manager.

State Bank of India is seeking government's permission to share up to 3% of its annual profits to staff in incentives, according to a report.

In an attempt to attract and retain talent, the leading public sector  bank also plans to give stock options to employees above the rank of assistant/deputy general manager.

"We are taking all regulatory approvals to incorporate a new performance-based incentive structure," said Ashwini Mehra, deputy managing director and corporate development officer, SBI reportedly said.

 If the proposals are approved by the Centre, it may lead to more than 2 lakh SBI employees sharing about Rs 390 crore of its profits.

Iran nuclear deal is ositive for the Indian oil and gas industry: ICRA

Iran is currently exporting 1 million barrels of oil per day (mbd), which is less than half of the 2.2-2.3 mbd that the country exported before the US and EU imposed oil sanctions in 2012. However post impositions of sanctions, dozens of Iran’s wells were mothballed and bringing them to production would involve fresh investments.

In 2006, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Iran following a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding Iran's non-compliance with its safeguards agreement after the country refused to suspend its uranium enrichment program that the Western governments feared was intended for developing the capability to produce nuclear weapons. Subsequently the UN passed a series of resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran. Currently, the United States imposes an almost total economic embargo on Iran, which includes sanctions on companies doing business with Iran, a ban on all Iranian-origin imports and sanctions on Iranian financial institutions. In January 2012, the European Union imposed an oil embargo on Iran and also froze the assets of Iran's central bank. Subsequently Iranian banks could not take part in financial transactions with European and American banks and had minimal capabilities to purchase dollars and euros for foreign trade sanctions. As the sanctions were crippling the economy, after 23 months of negotiations, Iran has finally entered into an agreement with six world powers led by the United States, that paves the way for ending sanctions imposed by the US and Europe and also opens business prospects for the various countries including India. The agreement limits Iran's nuclear capabilities for a decade and puts in place a tighter inspection regime in return for lifting financial and military sanctions. However the lifting of sanctions would not be immediate as Iran would have to meet its commitments post which the IAEA would issue a final report which could eventually lead to lifting of sanctions. This is expected to be a time consuming affair and as per some media reports, the process could be completed only in the first half of 2016. Additionally the extent of compliance by Iran would continue to be a key factor for lifting of sanctions and subsequent non-compliance could lead to sanctions being reinstated.  
 
Iran’s oil export potential: Iran is currently exporting 1 million barrels of oil per day (mbd), which is less than half of the 2.2-2.3 mbd that the country exported before the US and EU imposed oil sanctions in 2012. However post impositions of sanctions, dozens of Iran’s wells were mothballed and bringing them to production would involve fresh investments. Accordingly it is estimated that about 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) additional production can commence by the end of 2015 and another 250,000-500,000 bpd by mid-2016. Accordingly over FY16-FY17 Iran’s production is expected to increase by about 1 million barrels of oil per day. Additionally the country has stored about 30 to 40 million barrels of oil in crude carriers in the Persian Gulf which would also come to the market upon lifting of sanctions.
 
With the global crude oil production at about 89 mbd, the additional Iranian production of 1 mbd adds only about 1% to the global production and about 2% of physically traded oil. However the additional production assumes significance considering the already over supplied market and the weaker than expected demand and would have a dampening effect on crude oil prices. While the extent of drop in international crude oil prices remains to be seen, the additional supply would cap any oil price rise in the foreseeable future. With the decline in crude oil prices, spot LNG prices would also tend to remain subdued in order to retain competitiveness with alternate fuels derived from crude oil such as naphtha and fuel oil. Importantly, with significant oil and gas reserves (proved oil reserves of about 158 billion barrels which accounts for 9.3% of global oil reserves; proved gas reserves of about 1,200 trillion cubic feet (tcf) which accounts for 18.2% of global gas reserves), Iran has considerable  potential to ramp up its oil and gas volumes in future. This, though, is contingent upon the oil & gas companies as well as service providers, typically based in US and Europe were to participate in their developmental programme. With falling E&P capex and lack of access to cutting edge technology, Iranian fields were in a state of decline and new fields were not in a position to be developed, which could change in a sanctions free era.
 
Impact on India’s oil bill: 
 
The domestic crude oil production of India met only about 21% of the domestic demand of crude oil in FY15 and lower crude oil prices would reduce the import and government’s subsidy bill. Every one dollar decline in international crude oil price reduces the import bill by about Rs 65 billion and the subsidy burden by Rs 9 billion. A decline in crude oil prices would also positively impact the current account deficit and keep inflation under control.
 
Impact on Indian Oil & Gas companies: 
 
With Iran being an important crude oil producer and exporter, India has had a long relationship with Iranian oil companies, with the relationship emanating in the form of crude oil imports, shipping of crude, equity stake in Indian refineries, participation in Iranian upstream ventures, export of CNG cylinders etc. The sanctions, therefore, negatively impacted a few companies in the sector. The following section analyses the impact on various sub segments of the domestic oil & gas industry.
 
Refining & Marketing: 
 
A decline in crude oil prices is positive for Indian refiners as their working capital requirements would reduce due to lower crude oil and products prices and lower gross under recoveries. Besides, additional sourcing from Iran would also result in lower freight costs and insurance costs due to proximity with Iran as compared to South America and African crude sources thereby reducing the refinery gate prices of crude oil.
 
Iran currently sells most of its crude exports to four Asian countries- China, India, Japan and South Korea. India which used to source over 10% of its crude requirements from Iran with Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and Essar Oil Ltd (EOL) being the biggest importers, had reduced purchases to about 9 million tonnes per financial year, allowed under the sanctions. Post lifting of sanctions Indian refiners would be able to freely import from Iran. However Iranian crude was also attractive because of the sops that Iran was offering, which included a 3 month credit period for oil supplies, compared to 1 month which is the norm in the industry and concessional pricing of crude. This significantly buttressed the GRM of the concerned refineries besides aiding their liquidity position. The continuation of such sops would be critical in determining the economics of crude purchase from Iran with respect to competing crude sources. Nevertheless with the leadership aiming to increase production as fast as possible, crude could be attractively priced to regain lost market share in the initial few years, which will help GRM of the concerned Indian refiners.
 
Once the ban lifts Indian refiners would also need to make payments to Iran for their past purchases. Post February 2013 when the US blocked all payment channels, the Indian refiners have paid only 45% of the crude import bill in rupees through UCO Bank. The Indian refiners currently owe Iran about US$ 6.5 billion for crude sourced since February 2013, when payments through Turkey's Halkbank were stopped. Of this Essar Oil owes about $ 3.5 billion, MRPL $ 2.5 billion and Indian Oil Corporation $ 500 million.
 
Because of the sanctions, the affected refineries had significant difficulties in getting insurance/reinsurance from global insurance companies, for covering crude oil inventory during transit & plant & machinery. Moreover, the Indian shipping companies had similar issues in getting hull & marine insurance for shipping Iranian crude. The sanctions also impacted the fund raising plans of refiners (ECBs & Equity) such as CPCL, in which National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) has a minority equity stake. These concerns could abate going forward thereby helping the affected refineries significantly
 
Exploration and Production: 
 
Decline in oil prices could be marginally negative for upstream companies such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Oil India Limited, Cairn India given that the realisations on crude oil sales would also decline , though the impact could be partially offset with no material under recoveries. As per the latest under recovery sharing formula, in the case of PDS Kerosene, GoI would provide a subsidy of Rs 12/litre and the balance under recoveries would be borne by upstream PSU companies and in the case of domestic LPG, the entire under recovery would be borne by GoI.
 
Post lifting of sanction, Iran would also look to attract companies and investments to develop its vast reserves of oil and gas. In a bid to aggressively develop its reserves, Iranian Oil Minister has already met officials of top international oil and gas companies such as British Petroleum, Shell etc and the country also plans to launch a new upstream contract model in December. Once sanctions are lifted ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) would also be keen to develop one of the largest discoveries it had made in an overseas block. OVL had in 2008 discovered the Farzad-B gas field in Iran’s Farsi exploration block in the Persian Gulf. OVL is the operator of the Farsi block with 40% participating interest (PI) in the 3,500 sq km block with another 40% PI being held by Indian Oil Corporation and the remaining 20% PI being held by Oil India Limited. The Farzad-B gas field may hold an estimated 21.68 tcf of in-place reserves, of which 12.8 tcf is recoverable. The consortium was to be paid a 15% return on investment once it was awarded development rights for the block. In August/September 2010, the consortium had submitted a revised Master Development Plan for production of 12.8 tcf of gas but had not signed the contract because of threat of sanctions by the US. In February 2012 the Iranian government issued a one-month ultimatum to the OVL-led consortium over the development of a gas field and in 2014, it put the field on the list of blocks to be auctioned in future though it did not cancel OVL's exploration licence for the Farsi block. However once the sanctions are lifted the consortium could face competition for development of the field from other global players. Nevertheless if the Indian consortium is awarded the development rights for the Farsi block it would be a positive for OVL led consortium as the field is approximately thrice the size of Indian’s largest field. Additionally domestic upstream and downstream companies would continue to scout for exploration and production assets in Iran given the emphasis on acquiring energy security and the large reserves of the latter.
 
Given that Iran has large oil and gas reserves, which it will try to aggressively develop and is being courted by several large oil and gas players, the lifting of sanctions on Iran would be positive for rig owners (such as Aban offshore Ltd, which already has rigs deployed in Iran) and upstream service providers as it would open up a large new market. Also as several fields in the Middle East are onland and in shallow waters, these would remain viable to develop even in a low crude oil and gas price environment.
 
Gas Transmission pipelines: 
 
The lifting of sanction on Iran may revive the long-pending gas pipeline projects such as the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline or the Iran-India deep sea pipeline. However diplomatic hurdles, security issues and economics of the project considering low spot gas price environment might remain deterrents to the pipeline projects.
 
Other related industries: 
 
With the lifting of sanctions, the GoI is expected to also revive its plan to set up a fertilizer plant in Iran to reduce the reliance on imports of urea. Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers and Chemicals and Gujarat State Fertilizers Corporation had been nominated earlier by the GoI for setting up a 1.3 million tonne urea plant. The project will see an investment of about Rs 50 billion from India while Iran would offer long term gas contracts for the same. The gas would be the feedstock for production of Urea and the plant would be situated at Chahbahar in Iran. While several issues like gas price are yet to be ironed out nevertheless the lifting of sanctions would provide impetus to the project.
 
Earlier CNG cylinders manufactured in India were exported in large numbers to Iran, as the latter is the largest market in the world for CNG run vehicles. However with sanctions imposed by the US and European Union, Indian exporters (such as Everest Kanto Cylinders and Rama Cylinders) had to curtail their supplies to Iranian market. However with the lifting of sanctions the exports of CNG cylinders may resume.

Lupin gains on USFDA nod

The stock has touched a high at Rs. 1,977 in early morning deals on the BSE.

Lupin has gained in early morning deals on the BSE, after getting USFDA nod.

According to media reports, Lupin has received approval from the US Food & Drug Administration (US FDA) for diabetes drug PrandiMet.

The stock climbed to a high of Rs. 1,977, and is now up almost a percent at Rs. 1,973.

The counter has seen trades of around 8,553 shares as against the two-week daily average volume of 55,000 shares.

Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex is up 85 points at 28,531.

Kotak Bank, Yes Bank Fall On Uncertainty Over FII Norms

Shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and Yes Bank saw some selling pressure on Friday amid uncertainty over the new composite foreign direct investment (FDI) norms.

Shares of these banks had surged between 3-4 per cent on Thursday after the Cabinet approved a composite cap for foreign portfolio investment (FPI) and foreign direct investment (FDI). It was hoped that the new norms would give more headroom for foreign institutional investment (FII) in banks. It was also expected some banks may feature among MSCI global indices, leading to buying demand from global funds.

Kotak Mahindra Bank and HDFC Bank rose to new all-time highs of Rs 743 and Rs 1,119 on Thursday.

Introduction of the composite caps on foreign investment meant that the government would not distinguish between various forms of foreign investments up to the sectoral caps. However, a Press Trust of India report, quoting officials said that though all foreign investments like FIIs and FDI are being clubbed for limiting the sectoral cap, its applicability on FII investment in banking would be subject to sectoral caps.

Currently, total foreign investment allowed in banking sector is up to 74 per cent, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are limited to take up to 49 per cent stake.

At 9:48 a.m., shares of Kotak Mahindra Bank and Yes Bank were down nearly 1.5 per cent while Axis Bank was down nearly 1 per cent. In comparison, the Nifty was flat.

Wall Street Rises; eBay, Netflix Push Nasdaq to Record High

Wall Street ended stronger on Thursday, with the Nasdaq up more than 1 percent at a record high after earnings reports from eBay and Netflix boosted optimism.

Google's shares jumped more than 13 percent after the bell following a better-than-expected profit report.

Sentiment was also bolstered after the Greek parliament voted in favour of austerity measures. Uninspiring quarterly reports from Goldman Sachs and UnitedHealth, however, capped gains on the Dow.

The S&P has surged almost 4 percent from eight days ago, when widespread fears about Greece and a Chinese stock selloff pushed the index to its lowest level since March.

"It just proves the U.S. market continues to be resilient in the face of what seems like an endless list of global worries," said Jake Dollarhide, chief executive officer of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 70.08 points, or 0.39 percent, to 18,120.25. The S&P 500 gained 16.89 points, or 0.8 percent, to 2,124.29.

The Nasdaq Composite added 64.24 points, or 1.26 percent, to end at 5,163.18, just beating its previous record-high close of 5,160.095 on June 23. The S&P was also near a record high.

Google's Class A shares jumped 13.5 percent to $683 after the web search leader posted a better-than-expected profit for the first time in six quarters.

That helped extend Thursday's gains in Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures to 1.7 percent from 1.1 percent just before Google reported, suggesting the Nasdaq Composite may open stronger on Friday and potentially extend its record.

Nine of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the utilities index's 1.54 percent advance leading the gainers. The materials index was the lone laggard, down 0.24 percent.

The S&P 500 has recently traded at 16.8 times forward 12-months' earnings, above the 10-year average of 14.7 times, according to StarMine data.

Despite early, upbeat results this week, U.S. companies are expected to post their worst sales decline in nearly six years in the second quarter, while profit is expected to have fallen 2.9 percent, according to Thomson Reuters estimates.

"What this season confirms is that we are in a modest growth and modest inflation environment," said Scott Wren, senior global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis.

Netflix surged 18.02 percent to a record high of $115.81 a day after reporting strong subscribers numbers.

Citigroup reported its highest quarterly profit in eight years. Its shares rose 3.77 percent to a six-and-a-half year high of $58.59.

EBay rose 3.39 percent to a record high of $65.59 after reporting better-than-expected quarterly profit and announcing the sale of its enterprise business.

But Goldman fell 0.84 percent after posting its smallest quarterly profit in nearly four years, while UnitedHealth fell 0.74 percent after missing analysts' cost estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered declines on the NYSE by 2,159 to 942; on the Nasdaq, 1,852 issues rose and 945 fell.

The S&P 500 posted 46 new 52-week highs and 13 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite recorded 182 new highs and 63 new lows.

Volume was light, with about 5.6 billion shares traded on U.S. exchanges, below the 6.6 billion average so far this month, according to BATS Global Markets.

Dollar Gains Traction with Fed Hike View Back in Focus

The dollar held at two-month highs against a basket of major currencies early on Friday, having extended gains as the market shifted its focus to an eventual hike in U.S. interest rates.

The dollar index stood at 97.618, having risen as far as 97.756. A break above 97.775 will take the index back to highs last seen in April.

The greenback scaled a near one-month peak of 124.205 yen, while the euro struggled at $1.0884, not far off a 7-1/2 week low of $1.0855 set overnight.

The dollar index was up nearly 2 per cent in a week that saw Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reiterate that U.S. interest rates will probably be lifted later in the year.

"The message that 'a rate hike this year makes sense' kept USD as an outperformer overnight," Greg Moore, senior currency strategist at RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note to clients.

Bank of England Governor Mark Carney also drew the market focus back onto global interest rates just as worries about Greece were fading.

On Thursday, Carney said the decision to lift British interest rates from record lows will come into sharper focus around the end of this year. Earlier in the week, he said the time for a hike was moving closer.

Unsurprisingly, sterling raced to a 7-1/2 year high on the euro, which skidded to 69.58 pence. Against the dollar, the pound stood at $1.5608, having peaked at a two-week high of $1.5676 on Wednesday.

While investors warmed to the dollar and sterling this week, the Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars all slumped to six-year lows as weakness in commodity prices crimped growth prospects in their respective economies.

Underscoring the bleak outlook, the Bank of Canada cut interest rates for a second time this year on Wednesday.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is considered almost certain to lower rates next week, while Australia's central bank is still seen keeping an easing bias for now.

The Canadian dollar last traded at C$1.2965 per USD, not far from a trough of C$1.2970 set overnight. The kiwi dollar dipped below 65 U.S. cents for the first time since July 2009, before steadying at $0.6519.

The Australian dollar stood at $0.7410, a day after skidding to $0.7350, a low not seen since mid-2009.

Trading in Asia is likely to be subdued with many centres closed for public holidays and amid an absence of market-moving data. U.S. inflation data is due later in the day. 

Gold Near Eight-Month Low on US Rate Hike Expectations

Manila: Gold held near its lowest level in eight months on Friday and is set to extend its losing run to a fourth week, pressured by expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year.

Fundamentals

* Spot gold was little changed at $1,143.96 an ounce by 0043 GMT, not far above Thursday's trough of $1,142.10, its lowest since November 2014. Gold has lost nearly 2 per cent for the week.

* U.S. gold for August delivery was also steady at $1,142.90 an ounce.

* Bullion took a hit this week after Federal Reserve Chair Yellen told Congress that the U.S. central bank is on track to lift interest rates this year if the U.S. economy expands as expected.

* The dollar climbed to a seven-week high versus a basket of currencies, dragging down gold.

* Indicating underlying momentum in the U.S. economy, the number of Americans filing new applications for unemployment benefits fell more than expected last week and confidence among homebuilders was at more than a 9-1/2-year high in July.

* Yellen said on Thursday she was open to raising a threshold for determining a bank's systemic importance and indicated that U.S. lenders had made progress in their submissions of so-called living will plans this month.

* Europe moved to re-open funding to Greece's stricken economy after the parliament in Athens approved a new bailout programme in a fractious vote that left the government without a majority.

* Holdings of SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, slipped 0.2 per cent to 707.88 tonnes on Thursday

Essar Oil Gets BSE Approval to Delist: Report

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) has approved the planned delisting of shares in Essar Oil Ltd, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
 
The delisting plan had already been approved by National Stock Exchange. Essar Oil, a unit of India's diversified Essar Group, was given the BSE green light on Wednesday, the sources said.

Spokespeople for the BSE and the NSE could not be immediately reached for comment. An Essar spokesman declined comment.

Russian oil giant Rosneft is in a talks to buy a stake of up to 49 per cent in Essar Oil, which operates a 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) Vadinar refinery in Gujarat.

Asia Up on Wall Street Rise, Greece Relief

Asian shares opened higher on Friday, aided by a higher Wall Street and eased tensions over Greece, while the dollar extended gains versus the euro and yen as economic indicators bolstered expectations for a U.S. rate hike by year-end.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 per cent. The performance of volatile Chinese stocks, which start trading later in the day, will be watched to see if recent gains are kept.

Japan's Nikkei rose 0.2 per cent on a softer yen, while South Korea's Kospi climbed 0.5 per cent. Australian shares were little changed.

Wall Street gained overnight, with the Nasdaq up more than 1 per cent to a record high after earnings reports from eBay and Netflix boosted optimism.

Moves in Europe on Thursday to reopen funding to near-bankrupt Greece also improved risk sentiment. Greece will receive bridge loans, enabling it to make a bond payment to the European Central Bank on Monday and clear arrears with the International Monetary Fund.

The lessening of foreseeable Greek risk also continued to push the euro lower, with focus back on U.S. and European monetary policy divergences.

"We have some sympathy with the argument that 'Grexit' would at least have resolved the doubts over Greece's position and that the euro should eventually end up stronger without its weakest member," analysts at Capital Economics wrote.

"The corollary is that a temporary deal which keeps Greece in the euro but fails to tackle the bigger issues, notably the need for a massive write-down of debt, simply prolongs the uncertainty and keeps the currency on the defensive."

The euro hovered close to a seven-week low of $1.0855 it tumbled to overnight. The dollar touched a three-week high of 124.205 yen, receiving a boost against its peers after Thursday's lower U.S. jobless claims reinforced market expectations for a rate hike this year.

The dollar index stood at 97.664 after surging to a seven-week peak of 97.756 overnight.

In commodities, U.S. crude edged up 0.2 per cent to $51.00 a barrel after giving up most of its gains overnight, reacting to data from industry intelligence firm Genscape showing higher crude inventories at the Cushing, Oklahoma, hub.