· European shares are set to start Friday's session in positive territory, with investors hopeful of progress in U.S.-China trade talks.
Britain's FTSE 100 is seen 30 points higher at 7,263, Germany's DAX 41 points higher at 11,472 and France's CAC up 28 points to 5,323, according to IG index data.
Market players turned their focus to trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing on Friday, after fears of a potential U.S. recession put global equities under pressure earlier in the week.
As the U.S. and China restart trade talks, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang pledged Thursday to further open up market access to foreign lenders and insurance firms. And on Friday, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he had a "productive working dinner" with officials the previous night.
Elsewhere, Brexit remains a source of worry, as a parliamentary deadlock over U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May's withdrawal deal rumbled on. May is set to put her divorce deal to a vote yet again on Friday — it's already been rejected twice by British lawmakers.
· Shares in mainland China surged by the afternoon on Friday as trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing continued.
The Shanghai composite jumped 2.36 percent and Shenzhen component gained around 2.84 percent. The Shenzhen composite recovered from its early slip to bounce 2.29 percent higher.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was 0.7 percent higher.
Elsewhere in Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.82 percent in afternoon trade as shares of index heavyweight Softbank Group jumped 1.52 percent, while the Topix index added 0.59 percent.
In South Korea, the Kospi was 0.38 percent higher, with shares of chipmaker SK Hynix soaring about 3 percent. Australia's ASX 200 rose 0.37 percent, with most sectors seeing gains.
Reference: Reuters, CNBC
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