Asian shares rally on strong weekly gains

Asian shares rose to eight-month high on Friday on the back of strong weekly gains.

Record highs on Wall Street offset the impact of the terror attack in France that made yen appreciate marginally, a Reuters report stated.

At least 73 are feared dead and injured more as an attacker drove a truck at high speed into a crowd watching Bastille Day fireworks in the French Riviera city of Nice late on Thursday.

The Bank of England on Thursday surprised many investors by leaving interest rates unchanged instead of cutting to reduce the economic impact of Britain`s vote last month to leave the European Union.

The pound was up 0.6% at $1.3417.

MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.2 % in early trade.

It gained more than 4% for the week which were its highest since November last year, Reuters report stated.

Japan`s Nikkei edged up 0.8%, poised for a weekly gain of over 9 %.

SGX Nifty opened in green, with the index trading at 8,619.00 points at 8:24 am IST.

Hang Seng also edged up at 0.64% and was trading at 21,699.88 points in early trade on Friday.

Brent crude futures slipped 0.9 % to $46.96 a barrel, while U.S. crude fell 0.9 % to $45.28. 

Oil prices gave up some of their overnight gains in early trading, after rising 2 percent on Thursday as traders covered short positions after data showing weak U.S. fuel demand, Reuters report stated.