Asian markets were mostly flat in the morning session Friday.Nikkei Stock Average 225 is trading up 0.06 precent,up 5.78 points to 9,457.17.Hang Seng Index rose 0.18 precent,up 32.59 points to 17,917.90 .Straits Times Index was up 1.08 percent 24.87 points to 2,317.84.Korean benchmark index KOSPI is down 1.28 points, 0.09 percent lower at 1,390.89.

Wall Street closed higher on Thursday as crude prices rose and the Treasury bond auction eased concerns about government debt.Energy stocks rallies as crude oil rose $1.63 to close at $65.08 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, a six-month high.

On Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average up 103.78 points, up 1.25 percent, to 8403.8. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up 13.77 points, up 1.54 percent, to 906.83. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 20.71 points,up 1.2 percent, to 1751.79.

FTSE 100 index ended down 0.65 percent down 28.69 points to 4387.54,Germany's DAX closed down 1.36 percent down 67.89 points to 4932.88,France's CAC 40 down 0.95 percent down 31.16 points to 3263.7.

Crude Oil for July delivery rose up $1.63 to $65.08 a barrel, the highest settlement since Nov. 5, after hitting an intraday high of $65.44 as OPEC decided to leave output unchanged and government data showed a higher drop in U.S. crude inventories than expected.London Brent crude rose $1.89 to settle at $64.39 a barrel.Gold gained 2 percent to a two month high of $964.75 an ounce on Thursday as doller extended losses.Dollar was down against euro ,down 0.4 percent.Silver was up 0.9 percent to $14.88 an ounce.Platinum was down 0.7 percent while palladium gained 0.8 percent at $225.85 an ounce.

Friday,29 May 2009