Markets to end bad week on a high?

LONDON Stocks looked to end a bad week on a high while the Japanese yen headed toward four-year lows against the dollar Friday as the country found little international opposition to its aggressive new monetary policy.

After a difficult few days when U.S. corporate earnings and global economic indicators disappointed, some investors appeared ready to buy back into the market.

"Equity markets are beginning to stabilize after experiencing a modest correction this week," said Rebecca O'Keeffe, head of investment at Interactive Investor.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.5 percent at 6,272 while Germany's DAX rose 0.4 percent to 7,504. The CAC-40 in France was 1 percent higher at 3,637.

Wall Street was poised for a solid opening following fairly solid earnings statements from Google and Microsoft after the markets closed Thursday. Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.6 percent.

There will be a number of U.S. corporate earnings reports for investors to monitor later, from the likes of McDonald's and General Electric, but the focus in the markets is largely centered on Washington, where G-20 finance ministers and central bankers are wrapping up a two-day meeting Friday ahead of the wider gathering of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

The G-20 statement later is expected to touch on the need for countries to encourage economic growth and avoid measures that might spark a currency war where countries compete against one another to get the lowest exchange rate. Japan has been at the center of concerns recently as the yen weakens due to the central bank's aggressive monetary easing.

The meetings take place amid rising concerns over the U.S. and Chinese economies, the world's two largest. Those concerns have helped cause a big drop in stock markets as well as in the price of commodities, including oil and gold.

In the currency markets, the yen was back in focus with Japan's rivals reluctant to voice any opposition to the Bank of Japan's monetary stimulus program that is designed to lift the country out of a two-decade period of economic stagnation.

One of the consequences of the central bank's policy of pumping huge amounts of money into the domestic economy is the weakening of the yen. Though that is not a stated element of the policy, it has the potential to improve the competitive position of Japan's exporters, giving growth a lift.

"The yen is the biggest mover in the foreign exchange market today as the G-20 meeting passed without any notable criticism of Japan," said Derek Halpenny, European head of global markets research at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

The dollar was 1 percent higher at 99.28 yen. The last time it was above 100 yen was four years ago.

Elsewhere in the currency markets, the euro was solid as the risk backdrop improved when investors are willing to take on more risk, such as the buying of stocks, the euro usually benefits too. It was trading 0.3 percent higher at $1.3093.

That more risk-on environment has also helped the price of oil recover somewhat, with the benchmark New York rate up 90 cents at $88.63 a barrel. Gold, which suffered massive selling earlier this week, was solid too, trading 1.6 percent higher at $1,414 an ounce.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 0.7 percent to close at 13,316.48. South Korea's Kospi added 0.4 percent to 1,906.75. Shares in mainland China also advanced, with the Shanghai Composite Index up 2.1 percent to 2,244.64 while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index gained 2.2 percent to 943.42. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.3 percent to 22,013.57.