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· Asian shares inched higher on Friday, on course to post the second straight week of gains, helped by hopes governments will make provisions to soften the impact on their economies from the coronavirus epidemic.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS ticked up 0.25% on Friday for weekly gain of 1.77%.

“China is already easing its monetary policy and providing more liquidity while more stimulus is likely. Factories are starting to reopen albeit with some delays,” said Yukino Yamada, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

· Japanese shares ended lower on Friday as renewed worries about a coronavirus outbreak in China supported demand for the safe-haven yen and weighed on export-oriented stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei average ended down 0.6% at 23,687.59, while the index lost 0.5% for the week to mark its first weekly decline in two.

The broader Topix shed 0.6% to 1,702.87.

“Until Wednesday, people had been saying that you can buy shares because the number of new cases had peaked out. The reality seems to be quite different. An early end to this seems improbable,” said Norihiro Fujito, chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities.

· China stocks closed higher on Friday, marking their first weekly gain in four, on hopes that measures by the government to contain the coronavirus outbreak and limit its economic impact could continue to help equities.

The Shanghai Composite index ended 0.4% higher at 2,917.01, up 1.4% week-on-week. The blue-chip CSI300 index was up 0.7%, rising 2.3% from the previous week.