Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed on Friday in thin holiday trade with many regional markets shut.
The Good Friday session saw markets in Japan, mainland China, Hong Kong and South Korea open. Many trading centers globally however will be shut on the day.
The Nikkei 225 rose 0.60% in the morning, while the Shanghai Composite ended down 0.12%.
Overnight, U.S. stocks finished mixed to higher, buoyed by solid data and first-quarter earnings.
The Dow 30 fell 0.10%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.14%, while the Nasdaq index rose 0.23%.
Meanwhile, hopes for an end to the Russian standoff over Ukraine allowed stocks to post modest gains.
The U.S., Russia, the European Union and Ukraine held crisis talks in Geneva on Thursday, and afterwards, diplomats from all sides agreed on steps to ease tensions that include demobilizing militias, vacating seized government buildings and opening future conversations to address autonomy for Ukraine's regions.
Positive U.S. data supported stocks as well.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia reported earlier that its manufacturing index rose to 16.6 in April, the highest level since September, from 9.0 in March. Analysts had expected the index to tick up to 10.
Separately, the Labor Department reported that the number of individuals filing for initial jobless benefits in the week ending April 12 rose by 2,000 to 304,000, better than analysts' forecasts for a rise to 315,000.
After the close of European trade, the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.52%, France's CAC 40 rose 0.59%, while Germany's DAX rose 0.99%. Meanwhile, in the U.K. the FTSE 100 rose 0.62%.